Just Too Simple
by Daisy Blue
Summary: [AU Lily&James] It is a commonly acknowledged fact that as soon as one part of your life starts to go okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces. Lily’s about to learn the most important lesson of all… in love, nothing is ever as simple as it looks.
1. Down With Men

**Disclaimer: **I don't think it was ever in question that I am not JK.

**Summary:** Lily's life is in shambles, or more correctly, her love life is. After yet another disastrous relationship, Lily has sworn off men completely. At least until she meets a handsome stranger who she can't seem to stop thinking about. But is he really who she thinks he is or is he hiding something that could change everything? LJ

**Just Too Simple**

**Ch 1: Down with Men**

"I swear Pen, there is not a single decent guy left on this planet!" An angered girl huffed as she lifted her steaming cup of coffee to her lips.

Two girls sat in a quiet coffee bar in the early hours of the morning. Early, being around 8:30am. Not the time of choice for either to have been cruelly dragged from their beds for a coffee fix, but being the only spare time either had before their unwilling brains switched on 'responsibility' and they were required to put in an appearance at their unglamorous and unenticing workplaces.

"It's just not fair." The same girl continued, not noticing, or caring, her friends lack of attention.

The curious looks of other surrounding customers was finally brought to the girl's attention. Still glaring angrily at her innocent cup of coffee over her disastrous love-life, Lily Evans had grown accustomed to strange looks. But these weren't the scornful, eye rolling looks she was used to. The looks of bratty youngsters and stuck-up teenagers with barely-stifled giggles and snorts of 'freak' unsubtly covered by a cough.

No, these were the cranky, intolerant looks of grumpy business people whose beady eyes sought out anything out of the ordinary due to the lack of caffeine at this hideously early hour. Looks that were drawn to the girl sitting opposite before mentioned Lily Evans. A girl with her head resting uncomfortably on the table and a string of drool hanging from her opened mouth. But that wasn't what seemed to be receiving all the unwelcome glances.

"Penny, what on earth are you wearing?" Lily asked curiously, noticing her friend's attire for the first time.

With a start, the girl's eyes snapped open. Unconvincingly trying to act as if she hadn't just been sleeping, she looked wearily down at what she was wearing.

"It's not like you gave me much time to change." Penelope Gregg replied defensively as she eyed her faded lilac top and matching flannelette pants that looked suspiciously like pyjamas with funny looking winged pictures that Lily supposed were meant to resemble muggle fairies but none which she had ever seen before. This fetching outfit was completed with a denim jacket thrown precariously over the top matched with knee-high lurid pink ugg boots.

"Just when was the last time you bought pyjamas?" Lily asked with a barely concealed smirk. Penelope blushed red.

"Well…um..." Penelope mumbled as she stared down at the table. The pyjamas were clearly recognisable as the same pair Penelope had worn back at Hogwarts and it seemed rather unlikely that she had bought another pair exactly the same. They weren't exactly a fashion statement.

Lily snorted with laughter but quickly turned it into a sneeze at the glare from Penelope. If it wasn't so funny, Lily would have felt guilty for dragging Penelope out of bed at this horridly early hour for a 'talk.'

"Anyway, could you actually picture a future together with him?" Penelope said, returning to the reason they were sitting in a tiny coffee shop at an hour when any normal person would still be asleep: Lily's disastrous mess, otherwise known as her rather unsuccessful love life.

"That's not the point. He still cheated on me!" Lily cried. "That image is permanently tattooed onto my retina." She shuddered at the thought and Penelope pulled a sympathetic face.

"It's not like he even had the decency to cheat on me with someone pretty." Lily continued bitterly. "I mean, with wrinkles like those she had to be at least 35! If she was a skinny five-foot-eleven model, maybe I could deal with it better, but a podgy woman ten years my senior with a moustache? Am I really that hideous that he would cheat on me with HER?"

"Snap out of it." Penelope said looking more awake than she had all morning. "And stop wallowing. You know you're gorgeous. You could have any guy you wanted."

Lily looked unconvinced but suddenly brightened. "Can I have him?" She said hopefully with a mischievous grin and a nod towards the window. Looking up interestedly, Penelope spotted the handsome man Lily was eying.

"My gosh, he is handsome." Penelope sighed as she took in the dark shaggy hair falling into the man's stormy grey eyes, sparkling with good humour.

"Oi, I spotted him first. And you already have a boyfriend." Lily replied, not taking her eyes off the dashingly handsome stranger.

"Damn." Lily groaned as a stunningly beautiful girl gracefully walked her way over towards him and starting flirting shamelessly.

"I have an idea, how about we go out tonight?" Penelope suggested at Lily's downcast expression. "Get you out of the house, try and pick up some hot guys. What do you reckon?"

Lily had had a bad run with relationships. She was still reeling with the shock of finding her most recent boyfriend (ex-boyfriend now) in bed with another woman only yesterday. Another woman with cankles and facial hair.

"Sound great Pen." Lily said with a grateful smile at her best friend. She truly didn't know what she would do without Penelope. I mean, she was willing to meet her at a café at 8:30 in the morning and listen to her rants about the useless male species that should all be shot. If that wasn't a sign of true friendship, Lily didn't know what was.

"Shit, I'm gonna be late." Lily yelped as she glanced at her watch and leapt from the table. "Thanks so much Penny, you're the best." With a quick hug, Lily raced from the shop, her mug of coffee still clutched firmly in her hand.

With a loud groan, Penelope rose too. Ignoring the snorts of laughter, curious looks and pointing at her attire, she made her way onto the street in the direction of her apartment.

---

"Are you sure this is the way?" Lily asked for the umpteenth time as her and Penelope walked down a road she was sure they'd walked down at least a dozen times already.

"I think so." Penelope replied uncertainly. She peered around at their surroundings with her brow furrowed in concentration.

"How about we go left?" Lily suggested. They were on their way to meet up with some of their friends at a new club that had recently opened up nearby. Apparition was useless as they had never been there before and Penelope had eagerly suggested walking.

"It'll be great exercise for us." She had exclaimed happily earlier that evening. "You said just the other day that you wanted to start walking."

"I didn't quite mean with stilettos on." Lily had replied dryly as she turned her ankle walking down the stone steps of Penelope's apartment.

Now, Penelope also seemed to be regretting the idea of walking. They were lost, their feet already hurt and their skimpy dresses hardly protected them from the chilly spring air.

"Ooo, I know where we are now!" Penelope pointed excitedly in front of them.

"Penelope, we're outside the coffee shop opposite you're apartment and we've been walking for over half an hour." Lily said in exasperation.

"Stop complaining, at least I know where we are now. I'm going to go inside and ask for directions." Penelope said as she walked towards the glass door.

"You can't do that. In case you haven't noticed, this is a _muggle_ coffee shop. We can't ask there for directions to a _wizard's_ club."

"I'm not a moron. I'll just ask for the street, not the actual place." Lily shrugged and followed Penelope inside the coffee shop. They were regulars to this place, despite it being muggle.

That was Lily's main complaint about the wizarding world. Their severe lack of coffee choices. If you walked into The Leaky Cauldron and asked for a frappachino you got the same blank look as you did if you tried to order a butterbeer at Starbucks.

"I'll wait here." Lily indicated towards the gas heater at the back of the small coffee shop. Penelope nodded and headed towards the counter.

The coffee shop was quiet, as it usually was at around 10 in the evening. Lily peered around the dimly lit space as she waited for Penelope to return, rubbing her arms in a sad attempt to diminish her goosebumps.

"Oops, I'm so sorry." A young man stumbled into Lily knocking her small clutch to the ground. She watched it skid across the wooden floor before come to rest by one of the tables.

The man immediately picked up the small handbag and returned it to an approving Lily. Admittedly Lily didn't particularly enjoy being knocked into and having her band new (and exceedingly expensive since it had cost her lunch for three days) bag thrown across the room but when the offender looked like that you wouldn't hear Lily complaining.

"It's okay." Lily smiled kindly as she accepted her bag and watched as the man continued to apologise profusely. He looked oddly familiar yet Lily couldn't place him.

"Have a seen you before?" She asked curiously. The man smiled. A very handsome smile that made his dark eyes twinkle even brighter.

"I don't know, but I saw you here this morning." Recognition spread across Lily's face. She remembered him now. He had been standing next to the incredibly handsome man she had spied out the window that morning. She hadn't really noticed him then but looking back, could recall seeing his face. He had been slightly overshadowed by his even more ridiculously handsome friend that she had barely given him a second glance. Well, a fourth glance anyway.

"Lily?" Penelope had obviously finished asking directions and was looking curiously at her.

"Oh right. Well, I'd better go now." Lily said apologetically to the man. She didn't quite know why she was sorry, but she felt that familiar pang of disappointment to be leaving. Despite having sworn off men since her most recent break-up, Lily was intrigued by the man. Something about his friendly face, that humorous twinkle and his strong hands that had steadied her when he had bumped into Lily made it hard to pull her gaze away from his.

"I hope to bump into you again." He said with a boyish grin that lit up his handsome face. Lily smiled at the pun as she turned to leave.

"I know where to go now." Penelope said as they left the shop and set off in hopefully what was the right direction.

"The lady said we just follow this street, turn left at the –" Penelope trailed off a list of instructions while the usually attentive Lily let her thoughts stray.

Her head turned involuntarily and she caught sight of the man. He was watching her, a small smile playing at his lips. Lily's own mouth curved up into a smile.

"What are you smiling at?" Penelope demanded as Lily quickly whipped her head around looking guilty.

"Nothing." She mumbled quietly.

And so she walked away with an odd feeling she couldn't put a name to. Not knowing quite what it was she was feeling. Not knowing what it was about the man that had stuck her, intrigued her, confused her. Not knowing if or when she would ever see him again. Not knowing if she even really wanted to. Just not knowing. A feeling Lily Evans wasn't particularly used to, and one she certainly didn't like.

---

**This chapter is pretty short, almost like a prologue I suppose. The rest of the chapters will be much longer and don't forget, I love reviews just as much as the next person so please leave one. :-)**


	2. Strangers

**Thanks a million to those eight wonderful reviews from la tua cantante, rohosluvsrolos, messyblackhair66, brokenblackangel, antrovert, jessica, donutty and SinnerxXxAmongxXxThexXxSaints. Hope this next chappie doesn't disappoint!**

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**Ch 2: Strangers**

Lily's week passed in a fairly uneventful manner. Her night out with Penelope had been a blast, catching up with friends they hadn't seen in a while and forgetting her unsuccessful love life for a few hours, knocking back a few too many firewhiskeys than was healthy and letting her hair down in more way than one. Penelope hadn't brought up the handsome stranger, not that Lily had expected her to, and Lily definitely hadn't done anything to steer conversation in that direction. She had also wisely kept her interest in him to herself. She didn't feel like sharing it with Penelope yet. Not that anything would ever happen. He was a stranger.

But the real reason she wasn't telling Penelope is that she knew exactly what she would say, and it wasn't what she wanted to hear. In fact, she could hear Penelope's disapproving voice right now.

"_He's a muggle Lily. It will never work. Besides, you've just gotten out of a bad relationship; you don't need to be jumping into a new one."_

Deep down, Lily knew that she was right. Sure, there were the occasional muggle/wizard relationships that worked but they were in the minority. And what were the chances of it working out? Most likely she'd end up with yet another broken heart, gain another couple of kilos from a week of ingesting nothing but chocolate and ice cream and run back into Penelope's open arms for comfort.

However, even in full knowledge of this, it didn't stop Lily from dreaming. Or from casually glancing around the coffee shop each morning as she waited for her latte, hoping to catch a glance of his handsome face, those big hazel eyes and that mop of the messiest black hair she had ever laid eyes on. She didn't even know what she would do if she did see him again. Most likely she would be far too much of a coward to even approach him. But if he approached her… no. She had to stop these ridiculous thoughts. Lily would never consider anything happening with a complete stranger. At least she didn't think she would.

"Excuse me. _Excuse me_." An impatient voice interrupted her thoughts and Lily found herself looking into the annoyed face of a customer. Silently scolding herself for daydreaming when she was supposed to be working, Lily hitched a bright smile onto her face, put on a cheery voice and served the now irritated customer.

"Thank you. Have a nice day." Lily called to the retreating customer.

Lily worked in a small clothing boutique in Diagon Alley. Apart from the long hours and early mornings, Lily loved her job. She made enough money to cover the rent on her apartment and got discounts on all the clothes.

"I'm going home now." She called to her co-worker Wendy who was rummaging for something out the back of the store.

"Okay." Came the muffled reply, and grabbing her handbag, Lily left the store.

She was a bit early to meet Penelope at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour around the corner so she wasted some time browsing the shops. After the purchase of a some more owl treats and a quick toss up between Sleekeazy's Hair Potion or a carton of milk for tomorrow mornings cereal (the Hair Potion won), Lily sat down at one of the sunny tables outside the Ice Cream Parlour.

"How are you today Lily?" Florean Fortescue approached her table with a friendly smile towards one of his very regular customers.

"Great thanks Mr. Fortescue. How about yourself?" Lily replied with a smile. She figured that she didn't need to share her relationship problems with him and spared him the sad (and rather disturbing) tale of her ex.

"Always well, my dear, always well. I mush dash, however, but it was lovely to see you."

"And you." Lily replied as he disappeared with a cheery wave.

With no further use for her over-cheery smile, Lily felt herself slip back into her earlier thoughts. She was appalled at the way she was acting. She was worse than a lovesick teenager with a silly crush. Here she was, a young woman in her early twenties and was obsessing over some random she'd met once in a coffee shop. A _muggle_ coffee shop no less.

The chance of her even seeing him again was remote and the thought of pursuing a relationship with him? It was ludicrous, not to mention about as likely to happen as she was to go a day without mascara.

"Hello stranger." A familiar voice sounded from behind her and one again Lily was startled from her thoughts.

"Sam!" Lily cried happily, her face splitting into a grin. "It's been a while hasn't it?" She reached up and kissed him amicably on the cheek.

"Too long." He agreed with a grin of his own as he pulled out the seat opposite Lily.

"Sorry to interrupt anything." Penelope said dryly as she too hugged Lily before sitting down next to her boyfriend.

Sam and Penelope had been going out for a little under a year, having just moved in together recently. Lily approved whole-heartedly of Sam. He was handsome, with sandy coloured hair and deep navy blue eyes and absolutely adored Penelope. Lily got on well with Sam, something which Penelope had been thrilled about.

"How have you been?" Penelope asked as she looked concernedly at her friend's tired face.

"Oh, I've been alright." Lily replied airily. And to be honest, she really was, sort of. Her tiredness was due to her late night thoughts of a particular handsome stranger she had been obsessing about, not as Penelope thought, her most recent break up. But of course, Penelope wasn't to know that since Lily had conveniently spared her the details.

Penelope continued to watch her curiously but didn't say anything.

"How's work been Sam?" Lily asked to break the silence.

"Not too bad, pretty busy though. We've been all over the place trying to get the facts for that fire last week." He said tiredly. Sam worked at the Daily Prophet, writing in the current affairs section.

"It's quite horrible." Penelope said sadly. Lily and Sam nodded thoughtfully. These days the papers were full of tragedies. Deaths, disappearances, attacks, the list went on. Most were the work of Voldemort and his Death Eaters but it was getting harder and harder to know where it was coming from. The Ministry no longer knew who to follow, who to be suspicious of, who was a spy or who was even on their side.

Everyone was held with suspicion and the Ministry were urging all people to look out for anything out of the ordinary, report anything of interest they may hear. The only problem was that everyone seemed to report even the slightest unusual occurrence. They were getting more and more trivial making them unprepared when a report turned out to be dangerous or lead to some worthy information. No one knew who to trust anymore.

"How about I go and shout us all an ice cream?" Lily offered.

After Penelope had spent ten minutes deciding what to order, Lily went up to the counter. As it was a nice sunny day, the line was longer than usual as many wizarding families seemed to be out shopping with whinging children.

"Excuse me." A man was politely trying to make his way through the crowd of people and jostled Lily as he passed. A flash of recognition passed across his face as he looked down at her.

"Hello again." He smiled.

Lily, who had been far off in her own thoughts, looked up to find herself staring at the very face she had just been thinking about. Her face broke into a wide smile as she realised that she wasn't hallucinating and was indeed looking at the same handsome stranger from that night in the coffee shop.

"Hi." Lily felt her cheeks grow warm and silently scolded herself for acting like a silly school girl. "I thought you were a muggle." She was highly relieved that he wasn't. In fact, it didn't make her thoughts seem quite so ludicrous now.

"While I do have a strange addiction to muggle coffee, I am indeed a wizard." He smiled good-humouredly.

For a while they chatted happily about coffee, and other chit-chat. The line seemed to be moving very slowly, something for which Lily was actually grateful, for the first time in her impatient life. In fact, she was in surprisingly good spirits compared to her earlier gloom.

"Are you sure I've never met you before?" Lily asked curiously after a while. "You really do look oddly familiar. Did you go to Hogwarts?"

The man's face tightened ever so slightly. "Umm, yes, I did."

"So did I. That must be where I recognise you from." Lily smiled. She still wasn't quite sure that was it. She was sure she had seen his face somewhere more recently than that for she hadn't been at Hogwarts for nearly 5 years. Yet she was equally certain that it hadn't been at the coffee shop of their first meeting. Still, she didn't ponder too long on it and dismissed it as something to worry about later.

"I'm Lily Evans by the way." She held out her hand politely.

The man shook it and smiled. Lily noticed that he had exceptionally nice hands. Strong and slightly rough, the kind of hands a girl would definitely not object to roaming all over her body… Jesus, she needed to stop!

"James." He said.

"Just James?"

He suddenly looked somewhat uncomfortable. A puzzled, almost pensive look drew a small frown line across his forehead and he appeared to be fighting an inner battle. If she took the time to wipe the silly smile off her face Lily may have noticed something almost guarded about him.

"James…er…" He looked around wildly and spotted a tree out the window. "Bark…Bark…" He shifted uncomfortably and looked around again. "Bark…lon?" He said eventually.

Suddenly, as if realising how stupid he sounded, not even knowing his own name, he cleared his throat and smiled handsomely. "James Barklon." He said with newly arrived, and much appreciated, confidence.

"Nice to meet you James Barklon." Lily smiled prettily and James felt satisfied with his answer.

"Lily, my dear, what can I get you today?" Florean Fortescue asked cheerfully, interrupting Lily and James' conversation.

"Oh right." Lily had been so absorbed in her conversation with James that she had completely forgotten what she was here for. With growing guilt she noticed the long line of impatient customers behind her. They had clearly been waiting for her for a while. Blushing slightly Lily ordered her ice creams, bid a quick farewell to James and proceeded back to the table where Penelope and Sam sat waiting for her.

"Geez, you took a while." Penelope exclaimed when Lily returned to the table nearly twenty minutes after she had left.

Lily blushed slightly. "Yeah, sorry about that. There was a long line." Penelope raised her eyebrows questionably but stayed silent.

They all slurped their ice creams happily and resumed their conversation on current events before going on to talk about everyone's favourite topic, quidditch. Enthusiastically they argued over which team they wanted to win the next big match and whether or not the new Nimbus was much better than the old one.

"Uhem." An incredibly handsome man stood by their table clearing his throat loudly.

"It's the man from the coffee shop." Penelope mouthed at Lily across the table. However, Lily wasn't quite sure which one Penelope was talking about. Standing next to them with a broad grin was one of the most attractive men Lily had ever seen. Judging from Penelope's misty eyed gaze and wide open mouth, Lily guessed she agreed. Loitering just behind him looking as if he desperately wanted the ground to open up underneath him and swallow him whole, was James.

"Sorry to barge in like this. I'm Sirius by the way." He grinned at the mystified faces of everyone. "But we were just leaving and my friend James here wanted to say something." He seemed to be holding back laughter and James looked ready to run away. Or strangle him.

When James didn't seem to be moving, Sirius walked behind him and gave him a hard shove in the back. Stumbling forward James shot him an angry glare before looking back at Lily. Lily herself was blushing furiously as she watched the events unfold while pointedly ignoring the questioning gazes of her friends.

"Sorry about him." James muttered. "I umm, wanted to say that I really enjoyed meeting you." He finished lamely.

"Uh, thanks James. Same here." Lily replied looking at him strangely.

"So, I uh guess I'll see you around. Hopefully." With an awkward wave he walked away leaving an interested Penelope, a clueless Sam and a completely dumbfounded Lily. That was it? No 'would you like to go out on Saturday?' Not that she would have accepted even if he had asked. She didn't even know him. Well she might have. Damn it, of course she would have said yes. If he'd bothered to ask.

"Care to explain Lily?" Penelope asked as soon as they were out of ear shot. "Who's he and what was that all about?"

"It was nothing." Lily tried to say carelessly but she couldn't help a blush from escaping.

"You like him don't you?" Penelope accused. Lily blushed redder and Sam put two and two together and muttered a soft 'oh' of understanding.

"That's ridiculous Penelope. I've only just met him." Lily replied.

And right on target. "That's right. You don't even know him. Besides, you've just gotten out of a bad relationship, you don't need to be jumping into a new one so soon. And I don't need to tell you how dangerous it is at the moment. He could be working for You-Know-Who for all we know."

"Geez Penny, paranoid much? Lily's old enough to make her own decisions." Sam said calmly. Penelope looked slightly huffy but took her cue to be quiet. Lily shot Sam a small smile of appreciation.

"Sorry for just being concerned." Penelope mumbled sarcastically under her breath.

---

"Okay James was it just me or was that totally weird?" Sirius asked casually once they had apparated back to the apartment they shared with Remus and Peter.

"Yes. It was certainly awkward." James said through gritted teeth. It was taking all his self control to stop himself for launching himself on Sirius and strangling him.

"Geez, what's up with you Prongs? You look constipated or something." Sirius said while giving James a weird look, clearly clueless to his friend's obvious annoyance.

James turned red and glared heavily at Sirius. "I'm fine thank you. Although I would be better if my best mate hadn't just made me look like a complete arse."

Sirius looked completely dumbfounded. "Huh?"

"You, you idiot!" James yelled. "You had to go and stick your fat nose where it wasn't wanted!"

Sirius looked hurt. "My nose is not fat." He said indignantly. "And I was just trying to help."

"Yeah, help." James muttered sarcastically.

Recovered from James' deeply offending comment, Sirius patted James on the back comfortingly. "Don't worry mate. She's clearly not worth it. Did she even know who you were?! She acted like you were just some ordinary ol' bloke from off the streets, not an internationally famous quidditch player!" Sirius looked outraged on his friend's behalf.

James coloured slightly. For the second time, Sirius shot him a weird look. "Really Prongs, what's with you? You're blushing worse than a teenage girl. You're James Potter. You don't blush."

James mumbled something incoherent.

"What was that Prongs?"

"I said, maybe it's because she didn't know who I was." James muttered, not looking at Sirius.

"Exactly. If she's that uneducated that she can't even recognise the name of an international quidditch star then she is definitely not worth your time." Sirius said with finality.

"One: I'm not an internationally famous quidditch star –"

"Ah, but you will be. And I'll be there for you every step of the way. To help you spend all that excess gold and to keep all your fans at bay. Especially the ladies." Sirius added with a wink. James ignored him.

"And two: she didn't know who I was because I didn't tell her." James finished quietly.

"What?! She called you James. What do you mean you didn't tell her your name? Of course she did, she was just too ignorant to recognise your _status_."

"For Gods sake Padfoot!" James said in exasperation. He would probably have more luck trying to explain it to the wall behind him. "I didn't tell her my last name. I told her something else."

"What did you tell her?" Sirius asked keenly.

"I told her my name was James B –" He stopped. His cheeks were growing red again. "Barklon." He tried to cover with a sneeze but Sirius heard him.

"Barklon?" He asked, staring at his friend as if he was brain damaged. "Where the hell did you come up with that?"

James coughed again. "Well, I couldn't think of anything and there was a tree out the window and so I thought, you know, bark. And then lon just seemed to flow afterwards." James mumbled awkwardly.

"Why on earth didn't you just tell her your real name?" Sirius asked in amazement. Now who was the thick one?

"Because." James replied in exasperation and defiance. "Every girl I meet always has one eye on my wallet. I just want to meet a nice girl who doesn't just like me for my inheritance, or my 'celebrity status' as you like to put it. Someone who will fall in love with me for me."

Sirius snorted with laughter. "While I can accept that, please do not ever say anything like that ever again. You sound like a sissy! That was actually the gayest thing I've ever heard." James glared at Sirius who was now laughing outright. "You're not going to go all sensitive and crap on me are you?" Sirius asked worriedly. James ignored him and whacked him over the head.

"Do you really like this girl or something?" Sirius asked suddenly. "I mean, enough to try and lead a double life."

"I'm not leading a double life. And yeah, I think I might." James said defensively.

"And you can tell that from having spent, what, fifteen minutes with her. Sure, she's hot, but is she worth this?" Sirius, who rarely spent more than one night with a particular girl, couldn't understand this at all.

James shrugged. Sirius was right, he didn't know her very well. But she just seemed different, as cliché as that sounded. He felt some weird pull towards her that not even he could explain. All he knew was that he didn't want to screw this one up. Whatever it even was.

"So, if all goes well, how are you going to explain that you're not who she thinks you are when the time comes?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know." James said softly, a small frown on his handsome face. "I don't know."


	3. Left Hanging

**Thanks to my reviewers: Q-tips, missyamp16, HalfBloodHannah, messyblackhair66, antrovert, coreagurl, Anonymous and rose94! And on to chappie number 3… **

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**Ch 3: Left Hanging**

"I still don't get why you wouldn't choose the other guy, Sirius or whatever. He was hot!" Penelope told Lily, both stretched out comfortably on Lily's sofa.

"I dunno, he's sort of too hot, if you get what I mean. Like model hot. And he clearly has the look of a serial dater. James on the other hand has more casual hotness." Lily stated matter-of-factly as if she was discussing the pros and cons of a business deal.

Penelope shook her head. "I'd pick Sirius any day."

"Better not catch Sam hear you saying that." Lily said with a sly smile. "And I'm glad that means I don't have any competition."

Penelope rolled her eyes. Ever since James had asked Lily out on a date, the massive smile had barely left her lips. She'd made Penelope go shopping with her this morning to find the perfect date outfit and had talked non stop about James, their upcoming date or anything else that related to the two.

"I better go have a shower now." Lily said, standing up quickly. "He'll be here in less than two hours."

Rolling her eyes again Penelope settled herself back down on the sofa to read Lily's collection of magazines.

As Lily washed her hair, applied a face mask, shaved her legs and did every other number of beauty treatments, she allowed her mind to wander back a few days to when she had run into James again at the little coffee shop.

_It was Thursday morning and as usual Lily was picking up her morning latte before work. Not that she was looking out for him or anything, okay she was, Lily spotted James at one of the tables in the small shop. Her steaming mug in her hand, Lily cautiously made her way over to his table._

_For a moment she contemplated whether she could really pluck up the nerve to go and talk to him but the power was soon taken out of her hands. Just as she walked up and retreated for about the fourth time, as if sensing her presence, James looked up and smiled when he recognised her. _

_Trying, and failing miserably, to pretend that she hadn't recognised James sitting there, Lily gave a very fake look of surprise which she then tried to cover with a smile. Feeling like the world's biggest idiot, Lily decided to go over to him and maybe salvage some of the pride she still had left. Instead she managed to not only look like a spying school girl but also demonstrated her lovely walking skills by tripping over her own feet._

_Damn shoes, Lily cursed from her lovely view from the hard floor. James seemed to be biting back a smile which Lily pointedly ignored as she attempted to wipe some of the coffee from the floor. After much more bonding with the floor than she normally would have liked, Lily stood awkwardly, trying not to flash anyone in her skirt and hide her flaming cheeks at the same time. No easy feat, mind you._

_Why was it impossible for her to ever look like a cool, calm and collected woman who radiated grace and elegance? Why did she always manage to display her awful acrobatics skills?_

_Still fighting a grin, James motioned for Lily to take a seat. This time managing not to trip over her own feet (really, who does that? You'd think that at 24 she would have learnt to walk properly, but obviously not), Lily made her way over and took the seat opposite him._

"_How are you?" He greeted when she was sitting comfortably opposite him. Lily smiled._

"_Alright thanks. I'm just off to work actually."_

_For a while they talked about their jobs. Well, Lily's job anyway (as if that's interesting!) as James seemed to deflect any questions about his own employment._

"_Aren't you going to be late?" James asked concernedly, looking at his watch._

_Lily waved her hand airily. "Nah. I start at 9. I've got heaps of time." James gave her a funny look._

"_It's… er… 9:40 now." Lily's eyes widened in shock. Had they really been sitting here for close to an hour? Shit, she was late. What was she going to tell her boss? Uh, she'd used her dog running away last time. And she seemed to recall having used her owl catching chicken pox before (was that even possible?) How about… er… her apartment caught fire? Hmm, that had possibilities._

"_Well, it was lovely to see you." Lily said with a smile as she stood up. Just as she was picking up her bag and about to leave for work (very late) James called her back._

"_Would you like to go out with me on Saturday night?" He blurted. Lily turned around, surprised, but couldn't keep the grin off her face._

"_I'd love to."_

_James grinned back, now feeling much less awkward, not that James Potter… uh… Barklon was ever awkward._

"_Great. How about I pick you up at seven?"_

"_Perfect. See you then." With a huge grin that lit up her entire face and not even a second thought about how she was going to explain her lateness to her boss, Lily turned to leave. Just as she reached the door, a sudden thought struck her. Biting back a laugh, Lily walked back to James' table._

"_It might be a bit hard to pick me up if you don't know where I live." Lily said with a laugh. James laughed too, looking slightly sheepish._

"_Right. How stupid of me."_

"_Do you have a quill?" Lily asked so she could write down her address. James rummaged around in his pocket, only pulling out a few knuts, a couple of stray pounds and a hanky._

"_Never mind, this will do." Taking out her favourite eyeliner pencil and hoping this wouldn't ruin it, Lily scribbled down her address on James hand, taking her time to savour the feeling of touching him._

"_See you Saturday." James called as Lily hurried off for the second time._

Turning off the shower, Lily stepped out while wrapping herself in her big fluffy pink towel. She dressed slowly in her carefully picked out date outfit and hurried into the lounge room.

"Penny, can you please blow dry my hair for me? And then straighten it with Sleekeazy's Hair Potion? Thank you so much, you are a lifesaver!" Lily said quickly as she settled herself in one of the chairs with her favourite pale pink nail polish and a bottle of remover.

As she set about painting her nails, Penelope dutifully dried Lily's hair with her wand and straightened it accordingly. After her nails had dried properly, Lily swept her long hair into an elegant high ponytail. Applying subtle but pretty make up and picking out her favourite lip glosses to put in her handbag, Lily was ready to go with fifteen minutes to spare.

"You look gorgeous Lily." Penelope said consolingly as Lily paced the room nervously. She didn't understand why she was so nervous. It was just a casual first date.

"Not too overdone?" Lily asked worriedly.

"No. Casual elegance. He will never know that you spent _hours_ getting yourself ready." Penelope reassured. She'd never seen Lily so tense and fidgety before a date, not to mention the week's worth of pay which had gone into her outfit.

"Thanks Pen. You're the best." Lily said giving her friend a grateful hug.

They sat there in near silence for a further ten minutes, Lily jiggling her foot nervously all the while. _Ding Dong._ Right on time the doorbell went off. Lily leapt up quickly and flew to the door. She stood there, her hand on the handle counting to five before she casually opened to door, trying to hide her nerves.

"Evening Lily. You look gorgeous." James said with a smile.

Lily opened the door wider and he stepped inside, looking around interestedly, taking in her apartment. Lily thanked her stars Penelope had been bored enough to tidy up a bit and her own spare minutes had been productively used to shove everything else still remaining under the couch.

"You haven't been introduced properly. James, this is my best friend Penelope. Penelope, this is James." Lily introduced politely.

"Nice to meet you James." Penelope said with a smile, accepting his hand and shaking it.

"And you, best friend Penelope." James replied, his eyes sparkling with good humour.

"Right. Well, I suppose we'd better be going." Lily said and James nodded in agreement.

"Bye. Have fun." Penelope called as they left, feeling strangely like Lily's mother bidding her goodbye. Boy did she feel old.

---

James and Lily set off in amicable chatter. Something about the warm breeze and just being outside calmed Lily's raging nerves. They walked several hundred metres when James stopped in a small dingy alleyway.

"What are we doing here?" Lily asked in confusion and gazing around at the grime encrusted area. For one heart stopping moment she wondered if he was in a gang or something but that was something out of a movie.

"We're apparating. Is that okay?" James peered down at her and for the first time looked slightly anxious. He hadn't meant to scare her by taking her down a dark alley, only he wanted to be away from watchful eyes when they apparated.

Lily nodded and James held out his hand. She stared at it for a few moments not quite sure what she was supposed to do. Looking back up at his face she registered him watching her and she mentally slapped herself. Sidelong apparition. How could she have been so stupid?

Taking his warm hand Lily felt pleasurable little tingles run through her body. His strong fingers wrapped around her hand and Lily felt glad that it was dark.

"Ready?" Maybe it was her light headedness at being so close to him but his voice sounded deep and sexy and enticing. Knowing that if she spoke it would come out in a squeak Lily simply nodded.

The familiar darkness surrounded her and that awful pressure nearly suffocated her but she barely noticed. Her mind was lingering on her hand enclosed by his.

"Lily?" That deep voice brought her back and Lily realised that they must have been standing there for a while already. Feeling her cheeks heat up again and desperately trying to rid her face of that dreamy expression it had attained, Lily pulled her hand back hastily.

"Let's go." Lily said briskly, trying to act like nothing had happened and setting off. She was nearly thirty meters down the road when she realised James wasn't with her.

"Erm… Lily? It's actually this way." James called pointing in the opposite direction. Feeling like the world's biggest idiot, yet again, Lily hitched up a casual smile and willed herself not to trip over her feet or doing anything else hideously embarrassing.

After a long silence Lily was glad when James started up the conversation again. Her awkwardness seemed to melt (thank God!) and the easy talk between them returned. Several minutes of companionable walking and talking later Lily couldn't restrain her curiosity any longer.

"Where are we going?" She blurted. She had asked earlier but James had given her a mysterious smile and told her to wait and see.

James let his smile escape as he looked down at Lily who looked like a six-year-old begging her parents to tell her what they had bought her for Christmas.

"It won't be a surprise if I tell you." James answered, his eyes glinting with contained enjoyment.

"Please?" Lily begged batting her eyelashes jokingly but James only laughed and shook his head.

"We're nearly there."

They walked for a few more minutes, turned a corner and came to face a dark wall. Unsure if she should ask if this was the surprise or not and figuring that it wasn't Lily wisely kept her mouth shut. Taking out his wand James tapped the shadowed brick wall and a door appeared. Whispering a few words the click of a lock could be heard. Holding the door open for her, James ushered Lily inside a building. Curious and slightly apprehensive Lily did as she was told.

"What is this place?" she whispered, not really knowing why she was whispering in the first place.

Taking her hand, James led her down a dark corridor without a word. Again they came to another door and as Lily stepped through it she realised she was outside again. The warm breeze rustled her hair, blowing a few strands into her lip gloss.

Lily watched through the gloom as she made out the outline of James reaching for something on the wall. His fingers searched, running over the rough surface until they found what he was looking for and pulled. Instantly light flooded the place and for a second Lily was blinded by it.

As her eyes grew accustomed to the light she followed James further outside. Soon she could recognise high stands towering nearby and six fifty-foot-high hoops.

"How did you get in here?" Lily breathed in awe as she stared around the quidditch stadium. Just a couple months ago she'd been up in one of those stands watching Puddlemere United play the Chudley Cannons but never had she been on the pitch itself.

"Contacts." James said with a casual shrug, grinning at her obvious delight. "And that's not all yet."

With a flick of his wand and a few well said spells a large picnic rug, a few burning candles and a basket appeared in the middle of the pitch. Too perfect for words.

"Ladies first." James waited for Lily to take a seat before he set himself comfortably on the blanket.

Lily didn't think she had ever been on such a fun date. They munched their way through the basket of food James had carefully selected after much consideration. They watched the stars twinkle above them as Lily giggled at James' jokes and swatted away hungry mosquitoes.

"I love this place." James sighed contentedly as he moved to lie on his back. Turning her head slightly Lily felt the soft blanket against her cheek as she watched him.

"I guess you like quidditch then?" Lily queried lazily.

"Of course!" James exclaimed, looking appalled at the very thought that someone could not like quidditch. "Who doesn't?" He looked at her laughing at him and his expression changed.

"Don't tell me you don't like quidditch?" He asked sounding desperate and his face worried. Lily giggled again.

"Don't sound so panicked. I've never played but I love to watch it." Lily answered, watching in amusement as James' face visibly relaxed. "In fact, I was here just a couple months ago for the last match."

James looked interested. "You support the Cannons? Or Puddlemere?" He obviously knew who had been playing recently.

"Puddlemere United." Lily confirmed. "Have been since Penny took me to my first game during the summer before second year. They beat the Wasps by nearly two hundred points."

"What?" Lily raised her eyebrows at James' grin.

"Nothing." James said trying to look innocent but was unable to keep a straight face. "I just would have picked you as Cannons girl. Must be the red hair." Lily swatted him as he chuckled.

"Well what team do you support then huh?" Lily shot back. James grinned.

"Montrose Magpies. And of course the England National Team." James said with a smirk.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Would I have expected anything else but top of the league?"

They continued in good-humoured banter about quidditch teams. James was clearly a fanatic about quidditch and knew everything back to front and inside out. They discussed the games they had seen and it seemed James hadn't missed a single one on the continent.

"Someone's a bit cocky aren't they?" Lily teased as James boasted about his many wins during Hogwarts.

"No, not cocky, confident." James retorted.

"Confident enough to prove it?" Lily challenged with a sly smile. James grinned.

"You're on." He stood and held out his hand to help her up which she gratefully accepted. 'Forgetting' to drop his hand as he led her back to the building they had come in through, Lily savoured the feel of her hand in his yet again.

"Wait here." James said and sadly reclaimed his hand. Barely a minute later he was back clutching two brooms.

"Are they the new Nimbus 1700s?" Lily asked in amazement. She didn't need his response as the light from the pitch illuminated the neat gold writing at the top.

Out on the pitch again watching James mount one of the magnificent brooms Lily realised something.

"Why have you got two?"

Resting his foot down on the ground James turned to her.

"You don't think I'm going flying by myself do you?" He grinned wickedly and Lily felt a swoop in her stomach. It could have been due to that incredibly handsome smile but most likely it was more to do with the fact that the last time she had ridden a broom in her first year it hadn't ended so pleasantly. Not that she was scared or anything. Not at all. She was just… unconfident.

"You know, it's okay. I'd rather just watch you." Lily replied with an anxious look at the broomstick. There was no way she was getting on that thin piece of wood. She was perfectly capable of admiring the state-of-the-art broomstick from afar, not to mention the flyer.

"Are you scared?" James teased. Lily looked affronted. How dare he accuse her of being scared!

"No." Lily shot back quickly. A little too quickly. James smirked knowingly and Lily scowled.

"I'm wearing a skirt and there is no way I'm riding a broomstick." Hah. There was no way he could possibly argue with that one.

"I beg to differ." James replied. Maybe it was a bit risky to a girl he hardly knew and on a first date but maybe risk could sometimes be a good thing. Before she even had time to register what was going on Lily felt herself being lifted by strong, sinewy arms and thrown on the back of a thin, _very_ thin, piece of wood now flying 20 feet above beautiful, _safe_ ground.

Her scream was deafening as she clutched tightly to the chuckling person guiding the broomstick steadily higher. Crimson locks whipped her face fiercely giving her a disastrously windswept look.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" Her voice came out shrill and slightly croaky from her screaming.

"Taking you for a romantic moonlit broomride." James yelled back over the wind whipping past them and half drowning out his words.

After a fast loop around the pitch and a little more screaming from Lily, James slowed down and hovered high above their picnic.

"That – was not – romantic." Lily said through great gulping breaths of air and looking a little green. James looked anxious. Maybe he'd just screwed up everything big time. The broomstick ride had seemed like a good idea at the time but now he was rather regretting his rash decision.

"You prat." Lily said with a small giggle and thwacking James over the head, interrupting the apology he had been about to voice. "I think I saw my life flash before my eyes."

James grinned.

"Okay okay, you win." Lily succumbed. "You're a good flyer. I believe you now. Can we please go back down now?"

"You don't want to see any loop-the-loops or spirals or maybe a wronski feint?" He teased but stopped upon seeing Lily's petrified expression.

Much gentler than their take off, James guided the broom back down to the ground. Relieved to finally have two feet back on the ground, Lily watched as James dismounted, her eyes lingering slightly too long on his rather nice looking butt.

"Now turn around while I get off this thing." Lily said sternly to James' grinning face. There was still the minor issue of her being in a skirt. Obediently, James turned his back to her, affording her another great view of his backside before she remembered she was supposed to be dismounting the blasted broomstick.

With the air becoming chilly and the breeze now picking up Lily felt sad at the prospect of the date ending. This had most definitely been one of her better dates, Lily concluded as she helped James pack up their picnic.

"Shite, I'm so sorry!" Lily gasped as she looked at James who was now dripping with white wine. In her hast in packing, the glasses Lily had assumed were empty were not in fact and she had managed to throw the remaining wine all over James' nice shirt.

"Don't worry about it." James said with an easy smile, picking up a paper serviette and trying to soak up some of the liquid.

"Here, let me help." Lily offered, grabbing a serviette too and trying to dab off some of the wine. Through the thin cotton of his shirt (and of course the serviette too) Lily felt his muscles tighten slightly at her touch. Getting a little, erm, side tracked from getting the wine out of his shirt, Lily marvelled at his toned chest. That was most definitely a six pack under that shirt and for a heart stopping moment Lily felt herself growing a little light headed. Taking a few seconds to fantasise she ran her fingers lightly across that tantalizing chest. Noticing that James too was standing still she snapped back to reality.

"I'm so sorry James." Lily apologised again, still rather white from her own humiliation.

"Don't look so upset Lily." James smiled kindly. Was she imagining it was did his voice sound slightly heavy with, something. Desire? "It's only a bit of wine, and I didn't like this shirt much anyway."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." Lily said doubtfully and James' smile widened.

"Is it working?" Lily smiled gratefully back.

Taking her hand, James led her back through the building and all too soon they were back outside her apartment.

"I had a great time tonight Lily. Thank you." James said sincerely. His face was in shadow and his expression unreadable.

"You're thanking me?" Lily laughed. "I'm the one who should be thanking you for a wonderful evening. That was really amazing." Lily gushed. Through the dark she could just make out James' smile.

"Goodnight Lily." James said softly.

"Goodnight James." Lily lingered by her door waiting for him to make the next move.

For a moment he looked awkward and he too hovered uncertainly. Then he leaned forward. Lily closed her eyes, anticipating the kiss and feeling her breath catch in her throat.

"Night." His lips brushed her cheek gently and a second later he had turned away and was gone leaving a completely bewildered Lily. Who, just for the record, was embarrassingly still standing there with her eyes half closed, her lips pouted temptingly and her head tilted up just slightly to _the man who had just left!_

In a daze Lily pulled open her door and walked into her front hall her face burning with something very closely related to humiliation. As expected Penelope pounced before she could even close the door behind her.

"How was the date? Did you have a good time? Where did you go?" Her face was alight with anticipation but fell lightly when she caught the expression on Lily's face.

"It was… nice." Lily said eventually, her voice sounding far away and dubious.

"See you in the morning." Lily said heavily as she turned to go to her room. She could feel Penelope's questioning gaze on her back but she ignored it. Closing her door firmly behind her, Lily sank onto her soft bed, her mind reeling with uncertainty. But most of all she felt bitter disappointment pulsing through her veins and making her heart drop in her chest. Disappointment that she had thought everything would be different, that she'd hoped so hard only to be left more let down than before.

---

**The end of this chapter wasn't quite how I wanted it. I was kind of unsure how to leave it but hopefully it all makes sense. Please review and tell me what you think. I know you've always wanted your name at the top of the next chapter ;-)**


	4. Mistranslations

**I'm so sorry for the really long wait in posting this chapter. It's pretty long so maybe that will make up for it. Thanks so much to kookie92, antrovert, Bumbledbee, storynverse, Sarah, messyblackhair66, Queenofrootloops and Sabrina for your reviews. **

**---**

**Ch 4: Mistranslations Lead to Embarrassing Moments**

"Lily?" Penelope barged into her room. "You cannot leave me hanging in suspense here! What happened?"

Lily sat up reluctantly on her bed. Penelope was standing in the doorway her hands on hips and her face set in brazen curiosity. She wanted the story. Lily couldn't say she blamed her but she was a little peeved nonetheless. Tonight she just didn't want to talk about it. She would much rather mull over the whole evening until it drove her insane. Pity friends couldn't be like genies. There when you wanted them but when you just felt like wallowing in your own self-pity you could lock them in an oil lamp.

Feeling herself relent, Lily grudgingly shuffled over as Penelope settled herself comfortably on Lily's bed, shoving the discarded pile of clothes over to make room. That was the thing about best friends. They just knew you too damn well. They poked and they pried into every detail of your life and badgered relentlessly until they got the full story. But Lily supposed it was an even enough trade, it worked both ways.

"So, what happened?" Penelope encouraged.

With much less hesitation Lily spilled the beans to Penelope who seemed to find the situation less horrific than Lily did. To Lily's immense displeasure she laughed herself silly at the very idea of Lily on a broom (having been there to witness her first and only other time) and at the unfortunate wine incident.

"Did he have a six pack?" She had asked excitedly and Lily had happily informed her that he had before hastily returning to the two current problems: no kiss and no second date. Was she really that repugnant that he couldn't bare the thought of kissing her? The possibility was far too mortifying to even consider. There had to be another explanation, any explanation.

"I know what it is!" Lily said suddenly, breaking their thoughtful silence.

Penelope's head shot up as she guiltily rubbed her eyes and pretended that she had been deep in thought with her eyes closed not drifting off into welcoming slumber and very possibly drooling on Lily's quilt.

"What?"

"He's gay." Lily concluded loudly to a rather stunned Penelope. When her friend only gaped at her and seemed incapable of speech Lily expanded.

"He must be. I had thought all the right signs were there but… he must be gay." Lily continued adamantly.

"Have you ever considered that he might just be a little shy?" Penelope asked cautiously as Lily shook her head resolutely.

"God, I feel like an idiot!" Lily exclaimed, banging her forehead with the palm of her hand. "To him it was just like an outing with a friend and there was me who thought it was a big date. Man, I must have looked like a desperate loser flirting with him and standing there waiting for him to kiss me. Argh!"

"Calm down Lil, I'm sure he's not gay and you didn't look like a desperate loser –" Penelope tried consoling her and grasping her hands at the same time to prevent her from doing more physical harm to her forehead. Lily however wouldn't have a bar of it and all the head shaking was making her dizzy.

"I really liked him Pen." She said sadly, her eyes wide and innocent and perhaps a little disoriented due to excessive head shaking. "I thought he was different you know? A decent guy." Penelope nodded sympathetically as Lily let out a bitter laugh. "He was different though wasn't he? He batted for the other freaking team!"

Lily let out a loud sigh and flopped back on to the bed so that she was horizontal. She heard a soft groan beside her as Penelope lay down beside her.

"Thanks Penny. You really are a gem." Lily said sincerely. Despite the sometimes irritating nosiness which came with the territory, there was no trading in the comforting companionability of a best friend.

"I know." Penelope answered with a giggle. Ah, how she loved modesty.

---

A slow week went by and all thoughts of James and their now non-existent relationship unless Lily had a sex change in the near future which was so not happening, were driven from Lily's mind. Well, sort of. Who was she kidding? Not a minute had passed in which Lily hadn't picked apart every inch of their date, analysing it to find any hint of James' potential gayness or even worse, his just plain lack of interest in her. Option number two was just far too humiliating to even consider (despite its possibility popping into her mind far more often than was welcome) so it was back to square one.

After a long week at work with the most awful bunch of whinging customers, Lily was in a shitty mood. Sleep deprived and on edge from too many hours of shuffling through racks and shelves for 'just the right outfit' only to have the customer in question shake their head thoughtfully and leave the now irate store worker (aka Lily) and three piles of unfolded clothes were never a good combination at the best of times. Throw in a gay date, an empty fridge barring the mouldy stinking cheese which no one wanted to touch even with tongs and you were faced with a near on raving lunatic.

The only prospective bright spot in Lily's rapidly progressing downhill life was the upcoming Puddlemere United versus Caerphilly Catapults quidditch match. There was nothing like a few hours of yelling and screaming to let off a bit of steam.

"Ready to go Pen?" Lily called as Penelope tore through the room in a flash of royal blue.

A strangled sounding cry and the thud of something going flying was the only answer she received. Helping herself to the packet of biscuits perched enticingly on the counter, Lily absently petted Sam's Labrador Chelsea who was sitting directly at Lily's feet and waiting hopefully for any biscuit crumbs that fell in her direction.

"Right, let's go." Penelope said breathlessly, her Puddlemere scarf which it seemed had been the reason for all the commotion, now wrapped around her neck.

The stadium was packed when they finally got there and they shuffled slowly through the throng in the hope of finding seats. Finally settled and thoroughly squished between a large man with a bear dressed in a blue tutu and at least eight packets of chips and a fanatically screaming woman, they waited in anticipation for the match to begin.

Half an hour in and both girls had lost all dignity and were yelling and screaming for all they were worth. Penelope was loudly hurling insults at the other team who had just fouled Puddlemere.

Triumphant grins on both their faces, voices sore and hoarse from screaming and feeling slightly sick from too much soft drink and popcorn, Lily and Penelope chatted happily through the finer points of the game as they filed through the exit.

"And when he did that Sloth Grip Roll to avoid that bludger sent by that son of a troll." Penelope exclaimed excitedly, her face animated in a way that only a good quidditch game could achieve.

"I thought we were done for when they scored that – James!" Lily broke off, looking somewhere to her left.

James' wide astonished eyes stared back at her and he grinned nervously through the crowd. Lily felt her face brighten at the sight of him before she remembered their date and his potential gayness.

"Lily," He greeted as he pushed his way through the crowd towards her. "How have you been?"

"Are you gay?" Lily blurted. Somehow her response of 'Fine thanks and you?' had gotten more than a little muddled in its journey from her brain to her mouth. She clapped her hand over her mouth in horror as her face turned a dark shade of scarlet.

James looked far more than taken aback while Penelope watched her friend as if she had just sprouted a second head.

"You think I'm what?" James asked in amazement. Lily mumbled something incoherent and stared resolutely at the floor, hoping to God that it would suddenly open up and swallow her so she wouldn't have to suffer further embarrassment from her massive, idiotic mouth.

"I'm not gay." James said a little too loudly and attracting a few unintended strange looks from the crowd still milling around them.

"Doesn't matter. I don't mind if you swing that way, I have heaps of gay friends, well no I don't but that's beside the point, I won't judge you for it, it's a perfectly natural thing and you shouldn't feel ashamed to admit it, if it helps I'll be your support when you tell your friends even…" Lily rambled quickly to a very uncomfortable looking James.

"Seriously Lily, I'm not gay." James said firmly, a little pink around the ears.

"Okay." Lily replied still feeling it was better to leave it. How on earth did she manage to get herself into these kinds of beyond awkward situations?

"I'm really not gay. I swear. I'm attracted to women. Lots of women… wait, no, not like that. I'm not gay!" James said desperately, wondering in distress how he had gotten into this mess.

"Are you sure?" She asked doubtfully, a small spark of hope igniting in her chest. James nodded vigorously.

"Very sure. Really really sure. Positive." They stood awkwardly looking at each other not knowing what to say or do next. Penelope was standing a little away from them, watching their exchange with a small grimace on her face. Talk about tactless.

"Let me prove to you that I'm not gay. Can I take you out on Saturday?" James asked. This wasn't quite how he had planned to ask her out again but he supposed there was no time like the present.

"Are you sure James?" Lily asked, looking a little uncertain. "You wouldn't rather take, say, him?"

Pointing through the crowd a very shocked and scared looking man hurried off, shooting appalled looks at James who felt his face heat up again. Short of blurting out that he was rather taken with her or repeatedly expressing his perfectly straight sexual orientation, James changed tact.

"How was the game?" Lily's previously uncomfortable stance transformed instantly and her face glowed happily.

Once Lily got started of course, Penelope couldn't help but add her own commentary. Nodding and exclaiming in all the right places, James constantly scanned the crowd nervously as if expecting a giant flying pig to jump out at any second.

"So, what are you doing here?" Lily asked curiously, seemingly over her James-possibly-being-gay issues and now finished her play by play of the match.

James snapped his attention back to her. "What? Oh right. I was just, er, you know, um, working." Clearly distracted he had hoped to give her something so mundane that she wouldn't question anything. And it was the truth really. However, Lily's eyes lighting up with interest and her questioning "Really? You never did tell me what you do." wasn't exactly what he had expected.

"I err…" James shifted uncomfortably and looking down at the plastic bag clutched in his hand. "I umm… I collect the rubbish. You know, from the bins and stuff."

He instantly wanted to eat up his words. He was a janitor? Why did he have to tell her he was working? A simple 'you know how much I love quidditch. I came to watch the game' would have been a perfectly logical explanation yet somehow his mouth always seemed to blurt out some garbage or other.

James instinctively tapped his foot nervously, his hands twisting in anxious knots. Not only was he running late to see his boss but with each passing moment the likelihood that someone would recognise him or worse try and talk to him, was increasing. It was bad enough she thought he was gay, throw in that he'd lied to her and he'd be as likely to see her again as he would date a supermodel.

"Right well I'd better get back to work… umm, cleaning so I'll see you Saturday?" At Lily's nod, James scooted away before things could get any worse.

Where had he ever gotten this idiotic idea to not tell her who he was? The one girl he'd met in so long who he actually really liked and he had to go and act like a leper. At this rate he'd have Lily running away from him as fast as humanly possible or else trying to force him into the mental ward of St Mungo's. Not exactly the relationship he had been rooting for.

---

"I don't get it." James said angrily, stomping over to the couch and sitting down heavily. "Why do I always seem to botch things up? Even when I don't know I have I still foul things up."

If looks could kill, the wall would most certainly have a large burnt out hole from where James was currently giving it the most loathsome look he could muster.

"You're still going to be famous right?" Peter questioned dumbly. James transferred his look from the wall to Peter whose expression didn't alter. Nice to see Peter had his priorities right.

"I ran into Lily at the stadium." James replied morosely. Remus let out a soft sigh of understanding.

An enthusiastic grin suddenly spread across Sirius' face. "I forgot to ask the other day mate. How'd the big date go?"

Seeming to forget his current state of frustration, a dreamy expression passed over James' face. "I've never met someone like her Pad, she's amazing. She's gorgeous and funny and kind and regardless of me making a fool of myself more times than I would like to count, it was the best date I've ever been on." A truly happy smile lingered on his lips until Sirius brought him crashing back to reality.

"So what's the problem then? What'd you do to stuff things up this time? You didn't start getting all sensitive that she didn't like deer did you? Or put tomato sauce in your tuna sandwich? That really is disgusting Prongs. You've got to stop doing that in public. God help you, please say you didn't do that weird thing where you drink too quickly and it comes out your nose?" Sirius said with a revolted expression. James sent him another glare.

Best friends were so overrated. They constantly brought up those embarrassing moments of your past that you would rather forget and 'accidentally' let them slip to large audiences who never let you live it down. They always eat all the food and leave the mouldy half-eaten bits for you. And they snore really loudly so that you can never get to sleep despite them being at the opposite end of the house. Definitely overrated.

"What happened Prongs?" Maybe Remus was okay. He'd keep Remus. Sometimes he gave good advice and occasionally he even left some chocolate around the place.

"I don't really know." James said with a loud defeated sigh. "I heard someone call out my name and I turned around and there she was waving enthusiastically at me and then as if she suddenly remembered something she got a weird look on her face."

"I told you not to wear that shirt." Sirius interrupted with a quiet mutter. James looked about to protest defensively when Remus intervened.

"Go on Prongs." James grew a little pink.

"She thought I was gay!" He burst out aghast, his cheeks flaming as guffaws filled the room. Sirius clutched his sides, Peter fell off the couch and began choking and coughing violently until Remus, who was trying to chuckle discreetly but failing, thumped him hard on the back.

"It's not funny!" James said angrily, desperately wanting to hex all three of his friends right now. Forget what he said earlier about Remus being okay, best friends were all a waste of space. What happened to console when you needed it?

"This is priceless Prongs. Best entertainment I've had all week!" Sirius sniggered, Peter beside him looking like he was about to wet himself from laughter.

"You must be an awful kisser Prongs." Sirius added as he gained a little control of his hysterics.

James felt as if his face had spent the afternoon toasting by the fire not to mention the slight headache he could feel coming on from glaring at his soon to be refunded friends.

"How did this happen Prongs?" Remus asked as consolingly as he could while trying to bite his cheeks to stop laughing.

James shrugged glumly. "As I said, I got that letter from my boss this morning saying that I needed to come in before training starts."

James had loved flying since he'd first stolen a broomstick from his father's broom closet at the mere age of three. Nothing compared to quidditch. In his opinion there was no finer thing in existence. It was the only thing he'd ever wanted to do and it was inevitable that he joined his first professional quidditch team right after Hogwarts. For the past eight years he had helped the Montrose Magpies win a record number of games and make quite a name for himself.

Things seemed to get even better when a few months ago, James had been offered a place as chaser in the England National Team. There was no way that he could live with his conscience if he turned down the offer. This, Sirius claimed, would be just the beginning of his A-class fame. It was only a matter of weeks when the team announced their newest player and James would become more than just a name.

"I ran into Lily and she just sort of blurted it out. It was awful. Everyone was looking at me in this disapproving sort of way apart from this old guy who kept winking at me." He looked revolted and Sirius made retching noises. "I was so shocked to see her and I sort of froze. I was terrified someone would recognise me and I don't want to blow my chances anymore than I seem to have already done while at the same time trying to convince her that I am not at all interested in dating men."

A sour look shadowed James' face as he pointedly ignored the smirks seeming to come from all over the room.

"How did this happen?" James groaned, running his hand quickly through his mussed up hair, a habit retained from his schooling days.

A faint snuffling coming from Wormtail who was doing God knows what, was the only response coming from his friends. At least they weren't laughing but they weren't really being much help either.

"Maybe you're an awful kisser?" Sirius said eventually. _Useless_, James thought crossly, _absolutely useless_. "Or it could be the shirt."

"Maybe she thought you weren't interested in her?" Remus suggested. James closed his mouth and swallowed his retort to Sirius.

"What? How could she think I wasn't interested? Short of spelling it out to her, I more than obviously hinted that I was interested." James said exasperatedly.

"Well mate, if you snogged her senseless and she still thinks you're gay, there's something wrong with your relationship." Sirius added with a wise shake of his head.

"Oomph." James elbowed him in the stomach.

"I didn't snog her senseless." James retorted narkily.

Sirius immediately stopped clutching his stomach in exaggerated pain and looked up with interest.

"Did you feel her up then? 'Cause that would indicate you're interested."

Sirius received another shove for his 'perverted mind.'

"Did you kiss her at all?" Peter put in.

Shaking his head James crossed his arms defensively. "No."

"Why the hell not?" Sirius burst out in astonishment. Yet again, everyone ignored him.

"Then what exactly did you do to let her know you were interested?" Remus queried diplomatically.

James shrugged. "Everything. You know, I, erm smiled a lot. And, well, I think I held her hand once or twice."

The stares and looks of well, he didn't quite know what but they didn't look very encouraging, were starting to become unsettling.

"That's… it?"

A curt nod from James ensued.

"Unlike some people," This look was clearly aimed at Sirius. "I am capable of self-restraint. I don't want to rush things. I was trying to be a gentleman. Girls like that sort of thing, right?" James' voice grew uncertain and trailed off lamely.

"So, er, how did you leave then?" Remus asked cautiously. Poor James, he was so clueless. He silently hoped he hadn't tried to shake her hand. That would just be the icing on the cake for all of this.

"How do you think?" James replied as if Remus had just asked the stupidest question he'd ever heard. "I said goodbye and gave her a kiss on the cheek."

"Did she go straight inside or did she linger a bit?" Really, what was with Remus' weird questions?

"I dunno. She was kind of fiddling with her wand a bit, maybe her hands were sticky or something, and was watching me so I left. She seemed to be having trouble with the door handle 'cause she must have stood there for nearly a minute with her hand on the knob. I think she was tired too. Her eyes were all sort of droopy and stuff."

Remus shook his head sadly and James grew aggravated.

"What? Would you all stop looking at me like that?" James said a little louder than intended. The 'looks' continued.

"Prongs, you embarrassed her." Remus explained, silently cursing his other friends for always leaving him to do the explaining.

"Huh?"

Remus sighed tiredly. "Can't you see? She was trying to let you know that she was interested. That's what girls do, they fiddle and linger a bit. If I'm not mistaken she was waiting for you to kiss her and when you didn't she got offended or embarrassed. Rather than realising that you're just a clueless dunderhead she thought you were just not interested."

A long silence filled the room and three stunned faces stared back at Remus who turned a little sheepish.

"Sounds like bollocks to me." James said at last, appearing a little shell shocked.

"How the hell do you know so much Moony?" Sirius cut in. "You really scare me sometimes, you know that? You have an unnatural amount of information in that brainy head of yours."

Remus shrugged nonchalantly. "It's amazing what you pick up when you're eyes aren't constantly glued to the closest female chest." He replied dryly. "And you may like to consider reading a book now and again too."

Sirius threw up his hands in a mixture of disgust and amazement.

"So I'm still in with a chance then?" James asked his face lighting up a bit with optimism. Sirius shook his head in disappointment. Besotted prat.

"Oi, and what do you mean 'clueless dunderhead?"

Rolling his eyes, Remus smiled slightly. Now he caught on.

---

"Penny, did James look really edgy today or what?"

Busily trying to yank her too small quidditch jumper over her head to little success, Penelope hummed noncommittally.

Undeterred, Lily fidgeted contemplatively. "Do you think he's a serial killer?" From her tangled position Penelope managed to inadvertently stick her foot through the armhole in surprise.

"Lily." She said in muffled exasperation and trying to speak through the scarf now strangling her. "This morning he was gay and now he's a serial killer? Is it possible he's just a normal guy who might be a little shy sometimes?

Lily shrugged. "Maybe, I just think –"

A thump as Penelope landed ungracefully on the floor as she continually struggled to rid herself of her quidditch gear interrupted her. Really, Lily thought with a small shake of her head, between the pair of them she didn't know who was more unco. They both seemed to be able to trip over, spill things, break things and cause utter mayhem more than any other normal human being. Talk about coordination issues.

"Lily, that's just it. You over think things and analyse them far too much. How about you just go with the flow with this one eh?"

Cocking her head to the side Lily mulled this over thoughtfully.

"But Pen, you're the one who told me to be careful! How can I go with the flow if he turns out to be a psycho, demonic vampire or something equally horrifying?" Lily reasoned, her voice rising slightly in anxiety at the very thought.

Penelope sighed loudly. "If it weren't for the discounts, I would really wonder why you worked in a shop. How do you come up with these things? A psycho, demonic vampire? This isn't a movie Lils."

Huffing defensively, Lily saw no point in answering.

"So you're saying I shouldn't bring garlic with me on our next date?" She asked sheepishly. Penelope threw her hands up in exasperation.

"I was kidding, I was kidding. I don't want to wander around smelling like garlic." Lily said hurriedly.

"I think I'll just settle for pepper spray in my handbag. Mental note to self: Shield Charm clothes for Saturday." She muttered under her breath.


	5. Dinner Dates

**Thanks to messyblackhair66, bananaslugg, Katie and kluvhp (four times ) for reviewing. This chapter does start off a bit slow but please bare with it. I promise it gets better.**

**---**

**Ch 5: Dinner Dates**

"Why hasn't he owled? Penny, haven't you noticed that he hasn't owled yet? It's been over 24 hours and he said he'd owl. Are you sure he's really interested? Maybe I was right and he really is gay. I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up!"

This was by no means the first near frantic rant since the run in at the quidditch game. Lily's eyes relentlessly darted to the window at regular intervals and she rarely strayed from the kitchen, and not for the food or in this case lack thereof. Going to work seemed to be even more of a chore than usual and Penelope had been unwillingly dragged from her own apartment to keep look out at Lily's and keep her from going insane at the cost of her own mental wellbeing.

"He'll owl Lily. Just be patient. Can I go home now? Sam should be back from work any minute." Penelope's naturally sweet nature was running a little thin with Lily's incessant worrying. It was driving her up the wall!

"Pen," The whine in her voice was scarcely contained. "You know I do the same for you. Remember when you made me sleep at your place for a whole week and miss work, not that I minded that part, because you thought the pigeons scratching on the roof was someone trying to break into your window? And when I had to tell your boss that you'd come down with a sudden case of the plague when you refused to get out of bed for five days when you got dumped by that owl-groomer?"

Penelope sighed in resignation. She was right, even if she didn't want her to be.

"Do you think he–" Lily started before being cut off by a loud wail and a hand covering her mouth.

"For God's sake Lily, stop worrying, obsessing and being utterly paranoid!" Penelope was really worried for her own sanity at that moment and Lily seemed to realise this as she stopped trying to pull Penelope's hand off her mouth and stood limply.

"Are we going to try chilling and go with the flow?" Penelope asked a little more calmly. Lily nodded meekly.

"And did you really have to lick my hand? That's disgusting not to mention so primary school." She wiped her hand disgustedly on her jeans and Lily shrugged, mumbling something about 'suffocating' and 'tasted revolting'.

"Let's go out." Lily said suddenly, trying to get into the stride of 'chilling' which she most definitely could not do hanging around her apartment and trying to pretend that she wasn't just waiting anxiously for James to owl.

"Lils, you know how much I love you but can I please go home? I don't think I've spent more than five minutes with Sam in the last few days and I just…" Penelope gestured flaccidly and with a wave of guilt, Lily noticed the tired bags under her friend's eyes and her slightly slumped posture. She was like an overworked captive, only with better fashion sense.

It was true they had always been there for each other, no matter how trivial or whatever other commitments they had had. That's what friends did for each other but it wasn't as simple as it used to be. Things were changing now.

Whether Lily liked it or not, she had to grow up eventually. It was no longer acceptable for her to miss work because she had an evil hangover or for her to demand Penelope's presence and sympathy while she had a mental lapse back to being a teenager and whined and fretted over whether a particular guy would owl. Sometimes you needed to let go a bit.

These weren't the days where Lily considered that weekdays were for getting over the weekend instead of the other way round. And most of all she was no longer the carefree, partying, just-out-of-school-without-a-worry-in-the-world girl she had once been, without anything bigger or more important to worry about than if it was humanly possible to go to three parties on the weekend and still be sober enough and functional enough to go to work on Monday.

Now they both had jobs, responsibilities and Penelope had Sam. Lily was no longer the only person in Penelope's life and it hit her with a pang how selfish she has been recently. And how pathetic it was to be obsessing over a guy. It was time for her to do something with her own life, to stop depending on Penelope for everything, to do something for herself for once.

Lily forced a smile. "Of course Pen. Go home, have a romantic evening at home with Sam. Give him a kiss for me and tell him I'm sorry for keeping you."

"You'll be okay?" Penelope looked at her a little worriedly. Lily nodded as Penelope pulled her into a quick hug before she was out of her apartment like a shot.

Snapping out of the self wallowing she could feel coming on, Lily grabbed her handbag and headed out the front door. It bothered her, that stupid epiphany and sudden self-realisation which is why she needed to mull things over an enormous block of chocolate. All she needed now was the chocolate. And maybe something for dinner while she was at it.

_I can make my own happiness._ Lily told herself as she haphazardly grabbed groceries from shelves. In her contemplations Lily was taking on a new perspective on things. No overanalysing, no paranoia, no pathetically mooning over a guy and especially no hovering around the house waiting for him to owl, no depending on everyone else to do the job for her.

She was turning over a new leaf. Consider it her New Year's resolutions if you like… in the middle of the year. It would be a clean slate. From now on she wouldn't slack off from work, she wouldn't spend a whole month's pay on a pair of shoes (except for the odd exception) and she would remember to pay her water bill on time as to avoid further incidents of encountering a cold shower.

It was funny the way things worked sometimes. Like how it was only when you stopped looking for your favourite earring that it mysteriously turned up. And only when Lily stopped obsessing about it did James' owl soar into her kitchen sending feathers everywhere. And it was amazing how every resolution she had just made flew out the window with the retreating owl, just like that, after all that useless self talk.

---

As per usual Lily's resolutions worked about as well as her diet currently was. In other words, they sailed wonderfully for about a day and a half until those chocolate cravings were too strong to refuse any longer and her life was under threat from chocolate withdrawal (in the case of the diet), or whatever the equivalent situation was.

She hadn't managed to turn up to work on time more than once, that pair of shoes went far too perfectly with her new dress to refuse and last night's endurance of a cold shower had nearly given her hyperthermia.

But despite all that, she was happy. The one thing she had managed to stick to was settling her paranoia which had incidentally made everything else seem less horrific. This meant that Penelope could actually spend some time at her own house with her own boyfriend so all in all, everybody seemed mostly content.

And that had been the point of the resolutions in the first place right, to be happy? So what did the rest matter? How important was it _really_ if she had to eat instant noodles for a week but instead had a fabulously sexy pair of shoes? What would make her happier, gorgeous shoes or smoked salmon? Clearly the shoes since she hated fish anyway.

With everything more or less in perspective, Lily found herself happily applying a final coat of lip gloss when James knocked on her door on Saturday night.

---

James had been more than a little nervous for his upcoming date with Lily. If he'd put a lot of time and effort into the last date, he'd done at least twice as much for this one. Last time he'd been trying to impress her. This time he was trying to convince her that he wasn't gay too.

In the end he'd opted for the simple approach. Dinner at home. He hoped she hadn't thought he was trying to overcompensate and suggest anything he wasn't by the invite _over_ for dinner. He meant it in the least sleazy way possible. Not to say that he would be protesting in the least if things progressed in that general direction.

The hardest thing however was his identity problem. And with Lily in his apartment, it was inevitable that there would be numerous exposing objects with his name or some link to his currently assumed name on them. The obvious solution, so he had thought, would be to temporarily charm away anything with his name on it. A quarter of the apartment vanishing had not been what he'd had in mind. Living with three other guys who were constantly trying to claim his things as their own which they'd lost, James had learned to name everything.

So instead, James had spent the entire morning removing anything possibly incriminating. He'd persuaded Remus into getting him a cook book and spent the part of the afternoon that he hadn't been extinguishing the kitchen fire, trying to cook something remotely edible, to no avail. Desperate, James had pleaded with his mother to cook her famous pasta puttanesca and drop it over in time for his date.

In the meantime James had bribed Sirius and Peter to clean the entire house to which they'd done a pretty good job to his surprise. Which, for the price, had better. With whatever remained in his wallet, James payed for his friends to 'go wherever you like, do whatever you want as long as you are not here all night.'

---

Lily was only half surprised when she took in James' spotless apartment and she tried to contain her small smile from escaping. She felt touched, she really did. No guy's apartment was this clean unless he was expecting visitors, or a particular visitor, and she would willing place a bet that it had been specifically tidied for her arrival.

"This is delicious. Did you cook this yourself?" Lily praised as the two of them sat comfortably at the carefully set table.

Thus far James had proved to be as good as if not better company as on their last date. Thankfully too, the slight awkwardness since their last, er, _confrontational meeting_ had easily evaporated after the first glass or two of wine.

"You sound surprised Lily. I take great offence to that. Do you think I can't cook or something?" James held a hand to his heart in mock hurt.

"Didn't I just say it was delicious?" Lily teased back.

"Well thank you then. If you're very good I might even give you the recipe." James grinned, his eyes twinkling meaningfully.

"Very good huh?" Lily raised her eyebrows flirtatiously. Past two glasses of wine and that girl had no shame.

She twirled her spaghetti around with her fork, accidentally splattering the sauce in the process. So much for elegance. James snorted unattractively into his own food at the sight of her red spotted chin.

"What are you laughing at?" Lily said as dignifiedly as she could manage between her own giggles.

Leaning over the table as much as he could, James gently wiped off the sauce with his serviette. Lily's laughter died in her throat as his eyes stared directly into her own. Goosebumps rose on her arms at his soft touch and an involuntary shiver passed through her.

"Cold?" James whispered, his warm breath causing tiny tingles on her skin. Lily shook her head unable to muster her voice.

Gently his arm snaked around the back of her head and she leant into his touch. There was no mistaking it this time. Lily didn't think she'd ever anticipated a kiss as much as she did this one.

His lips pressed gently to hers in a sweet kiss. Not rushed and demanding but soft and gentle. And suddenly he stopped and Lily's eyes shot open in alarm.

"Do you think we could wait for dessert?" He asked quietly a faint smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

Lily pretended to look thoughtful. "Hmm, I don't know." Her face split into a grin and a second later she was reaching up to kiss him again.

While kissing James was quite blissful, the table was digging into Lily's hipbone somewhat uncomfortably. Making a rather bold decision Lily broke away and stood up taking James' slightly calloused hand in hers.

He didn't say anything but followed her lead. Lily didn't know where she was heading exactly but something without a slab of wood between them was most definitely preferable.

"Ow!" Slightly woozy from wine and kissing James, in her distracted state Lily's toe made painful contact with the couch leg. What a way to spoil the mood!

"Are you alright?" James asked worriedly as she hopped up and down, although she seemed a little more worried about her shoe than her toe.

Steering her over to the couch James soothingly pried her shoes off to examine her toe. If Lily thought she was beginning to fall for James before (after she had ruled off his potential gayness as just her paranoid mind working over time) she was now quite enjoying her suspension in mid air. Coming from a girl with a foot phobia, if a man was prepared to massage her foot with the tenderness James was now, he was definitely worth keeping, even if just for the foot massages. Joke, that was a joke!

"Better?" Lily nodded like a child with a scratched knee.

Leaning over Lily kissed him gratefully. "Thank you." She whispered against his lips. James' hand came up and caressed her cheek. Wrapping her arms around his neck Lily pulled him closer, his body pressed very pleasantly against hers. With a soft groan James sunk back into the couch pulling Lily down with him.

Lily ran her fingers feverishly through his unruly hair, her hands running tantalisingly down his firm back. His hands reached up to cup her face, brushing back strands of hair and getting lost in the tangles of her fiery locks.

Cart-wheeling thoughts spun through James' euphoric mind. He'd never felt so perfectly content with a person before. The last time he'd laughed so hard, felt so happy, wanted so badly… well, had been the last time he'd been with her.

Maybe it was the heat of the moment and possibly too much wine getting to his head but James was entertained by a quick fantasy of taking her out to dinner, butterbeers in Hogsmeade, introducing her to the Marauders and bam. It hit him hard and he pulled away. There was no fantasy. This amazing, beautiful, interesting girl didn't even know his real name. How long could things go on like this? Sure, it was technically only their second date but James had spent enough time with Lily to know that he definitely didn't want it to be their last. He wasn't going to skip ahead and say he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her but he was quite sure that he didn't want to lose her.

"Are you okay?" Her lips were swollen and her cheeks ever so slightly flushed.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself. He had to tell her. The longer her left things the harder it would get.

"Lily, I have to tell you something." James managed to say, surprised at the calmness with which he spoke. Lily nodded and looked straight at him to show she was listening.

"I lied."

She didn't move, just stared straight into his eyes. "About what?" something unreadable on her face made his heart twist into knots. How could he do this now? When things seemed to be going so perfectly? How could he ruin such a lovely night? How could he chuck away the beginnings of what could be something incredible?

"I didn't really cook dinner. I can't cook at all. I spent this morning trying to extinguish a fire in the kitchen which I caused and owled my mum to make something instead." Okay, he chickened out. Still, he reasoned with himself, there was plenty of time for him to tell her. He was avoiding it, he was simply, putting it off until the appropriate time.

Lily burst out laughing and kissed him gently. "I think I can forgive you. Just this once. But only because you gave me a foot massage." A smile broke out across James' face.

He leant over and kissed her deeply on the lips, feeling her surrender beneath him.

"So, have I proved enough that I'm most definitely not gay?" James asked with the ghost of a cheeky grin. Lily blushed. Damn, she'd hoped he would have forgotten that.

"I think you've more than proved that." She answered with a wicked smirk, her eyes darting unabashedly down below. It was James' turn to redden.

Saving himself a response he lowered his face back down to meet her lips. His hands trailed lightly over her, feeling the curve of her waist, the contours of her face. Kissing her with such fervour James flicked his tongue playfully over her wet lips. He wanted her more than he'd ever wanted someone in his life and judging from her own shuddering breaths and hot kisses she was certainly in no hurry to stop either.

_Thump._

Both heads shot up in surprise, narrowly missing a painful collision. A bad feeling was slowly settling in the pit of James' stomach.

"Oi Prongs! We're home early."

---

**Ooo a cliffie! Sorry about that but I thought a little suspense might be in order. I don't like the start of this chapter at all and if I could be bothered spending more time I would rewrite it but I'll save that for some other time. Please read and review, it honestly takes less than a minute and makes me grin for 6 times that long. )**


	6. Den of Debauchery

**Firstly, a hundred grovelling apologies for not updating in so long. Everything about this chapter seemed to be working against me, first I barely had two spare seconds with the end of the school term and my sixteenth birthday a couple days ago, then when I did find some time I had a complete utter blank of what to write and then I spent the last three days hurling abuse at the computer because the site wouldn't let me upload any documents.**** Anyway, it's here now and hopefully it is up to standard (and hopefully reviews). Thanks to Queenoffruitloops, storynverse, frosteddarkfox, messyblackhair66, codswallop, Lily&James4ever! and Princess Shinko for those beautiful reviews. Honestly, I think they were the nicest reviews I've had for a chapter yet so thanks a lot:D**

---

_Saving himself a response James lowered his face back down to meet her lips. His hands trailed lightly over her, feeling the curve of her waist, the contours of her face. Kissing her with such fervour James flicked his tongue playfully over her wet lips. He wanted her more than he'd ever wanted someone in his life and judging from her own shuddering breaths and hot kisses she was certainly in no hurry to stop either._

_Thump._

_Both heads shot up in surprise, narrowly missing a painful collision. A bad feeling was slowly settling in the pit of James' stomach. _

"_Oi Prongs! We're home early." _

**Ch 6: Den of Debauchery**

Some people just had all the luck. It wasn't methodical or even fair but it was the way things worked. James was just one of those few blessed souls. How else would he find himself wedged uncomfortably at the kitchen table watching his best friend scarf down the brownies and ice cream that had been especially prepared for his _date_ (admittedly they had been purchased from the bakery down the road but still!) at an alarmingly fast rate as his said date chatted animatedly with Remus about electric shavers? Well, as animatedly as anyone could explain how exactly the little blades spin and why people actually buy such inventions.

Sirius' highly untimely appearance in the living room, causing Lily and James spring apart like two guilty teenagers with matching crimson faces and shifty expressions, had most definitely put a dampener on an evening that had been previously heading in a particularly alluring direction in James' opinion. It had taken every ounce of self control, and of course sitting on his twitching hands, to stop himself strangling Sirius and dressing him in a thong before stringing him to a billboard in central London for passers-by to gawk at which still wouldn't be adequate punishment. Why, every God and divine being up there, did Sirius have to be kicked out of the bar on that particular night out of any of the other three-hundred-and-sixty-four he could have chosen?

After they had relocated, before Sirius attempted to eat all the brownies and they suffered further embarrassment at his hands, James made the appropriate introductions and found himself in his current position. Unhappily sitting under the fluorescent lights of the kitchen, surrounded by three additional people that were not particularly welcome at that moment in time as well as desperately trying to control his lust for his date whom he was now separated from by that damn slab of wood, aka the table, again.

The only redeeming aspect was that despite the inconvenient interruption, Lily appeared to be having a good time. Now she was laughing happily at some story Sirius was currently telling with immense enthusiasm. Wait… what exactly _was_ Sirius telling her?

"… I'm still scarred for life. James dancing around just as free as a hippogriff, if you get my drift, letting it all hang out like them tribal people, with his underwear perched on his head isn't a sight anyone should be subjected to unless they want their eyeballs burned out." Sirius said as deadpan as he could as Lily laughed heartily, her head thrown back as James caught on to the sort of stories Sirius had felt fit to share with the girl her wanted to make a good impression to. Not be made out to look like a raving lunatic just escaped from the nut farm.

"And this one time in seventh year –" James took that moment to hastily intervene.

"I think we've had enough stories now Sirius." He said through gritted teeth, his face ever so slightly tinged pink. "And you could have at least stuck to things that have happened in the past decade."

That was the problem with friends you'd know all your life. There was no way they couldn't have witnessed those awful crew cuts, the shaggy Cousin It hairdos during the sixties, the unfortunate photographic evidence that you once wore skin tight flared leather pants and out in public no less with the completely deluded idea that you looked cool, the unfortunate experimentations with facial hair, and of course those drunken incidents that were never to be repeated but seemed to come up with surprising regularity around guests.

"You could have at least told her some of the stories that highlighted my good points." James added in slight indignation.

"I did!" Sirius protested to James' sceptical look.

Lily nodded with a sly grin. "I think your days of playing the hardcore air guitar most definitely painted you in a good light."

The table roared with laughter. Despite his now flaming cheeks not even James could suppress a grin at that one. Damn, he'd never thought his friends had witnessed those incidents with his music blaring full blast. He was sure he'd always checked the door was closed.

"Well, I'm done. I might bugger off now." Remus said pointedly at the two guys still shovelling the last remaining scraps into their mouths. "It was lovely meeting you Lily." He added with an honest smile.

"Ouch, why'd you kick me Moony?" Grumpily, Sirius rubbed his forehead where his spoon had just made painful contact thanks to his jump of surprise at Remus' swift kick under the table. "Oh right." He faked a loud yawn, finally catching on and pulling Peter up by his shirt collar. "I'm beat. See around Lily."

With Sirius whistling loudly they marched out of the kitchen. Lily laughed softly. "Their subtly is enviable isn't it?"

James shook his head in amusement. "You have brownie just there." He said, his eyes now twinkling as he pointed to the corner of her mouth. Lily licked it off but James shook his head, the corner of his lips twitching to hide a smile. "Nup, still there."

He shook his head again as she reached up to wipe it off. "Maybe I'll have to get it for you."

Catching on, Lily broke out into a smile that was quickly diminished as James' lips landed pleasantly on hers. She could feel his self-satisfied smirk against her mouth and after a few more pleasurable seconds, they broke apart.

"That was lame, James." She waggled her eyebrows cutely at him and he smirked again.

"But you still find it incredibly endearing."

"Maybe."

And his lips were back on hers, their soft caresses gently urging her lips open. Faint traces of chocolate lingered on his tongue and his hot kisses grew more fervent and more demanding with each passing minute.

Just as things were rapidly heating up again, a faint scuffling and muffled whispers brought James' euphoric mind back to unwelcoming reality. Reluctantly he pulled away, every nerve in his body protesting bitterly.

"Nosy gits." James whispered as an undeniable yelp carried from behind the slightly ajar door. "What ever happened to a little privacy?" He knew exactly what happened. It simply didn't exist with Sirius around.

Lily sighed softly, her eyes half-closed contentedly and her forehead resting against his. "I'd better go anyway. I've got to work tomorrow morning." She whispered back reluctantly.

It was a rarity for Lily to be required at work on a Sunday however it was the unfortunate time of year that required hours of tedious stocktaking. The only redemption for another unappreciated early morning was the double pay, always an enticement.

"If you have to." He muttered back between short sweet kisses. James pulled back slowly, conscious of his prying friends only a few metres away. "I'll walk you to the door."

James kissed her lingeringly at the front door, his arms wrapping tightly around her. His kisses were intoxicating, his touch gentle and tantalising. Self-control was at an all time low as Lily fought not to succumb.

"Goodbye."

Strong arms pulled her closer and warm breath against her neck sent shivers of pleasure down her spine. "Stay."

"I can't." Seductive persuasion was making her weaken and it took more than restraint to extract herself from the safe confines of his encircling arms.

"Jesus Christ, save me." James muttered despairingly as another yelp could be heard just inside the window, a noise James felt certain was Remus pulling Sirius' snooping head away from the crack in the curtains.

Lily giggled softly, moving away before he could persuade her further with another kiss in which case she just might never leave.

"Bye."

And in the blink of an eye and the swish of her long hair she was gone. James ran a hand through his dark locks, a small grin plastered on his face.

---

Incessant beeping was the last thing Lily felt like waking up to at the crack of dawn. Whacking the small metal offender until the ear splitting noise ceased, Lily unwillingly heaved herself out of the warm confines of her bed and the allure of drifting back to sleep.

A blast of hot water later and haphazardly attired in whatever was yanked from her wardrobe first and Lily was speeding out of her apartment trying to juggle her keys, handbag and a breakfast muesli bar.

The brisk morning air whipped her face, long tendrils of hair billowing in front of her and obscuring her vision. Wind stung her eyes as her hurried footsteps echoed in a rhythmic pattern.

Penelope's shining face stood out like a sore thumb the moment Lily stepped into the busy coffee shop. She motioned wildly, a grin spreading rapidly across her pretty face and Lily obliged.

"So? Spill!" Penelope exclaimed excitedly, trying and failing not to draw the whole coffee shop's attention.

"Hate to disappoint but it was just dinner." Lily murmured back, unable to completely contain her smile.

"That's it? Come on Lil, you can do better than that! What happened, I want a details." Demanded a slightly impatient Penelope. She sounded like a teenager eager for schoolyard gossip but it made Lily smile nonetheless.

A sappy smile obscured Lily's face as she gave a brief retelling of the night's events, not quite the detailed account Penelope desired. She listened with rapt attention making Lily giggle at the hilarity of the situation.

"Thank God they showed up when they did or I'm sure I would have done something really stupid." Lily finished. Like sleep with James.

Penelope pulled a face. "Done something really stupid? Come on Lily; you're beautiful, young and single and he's hot as. Why should you feel guilty if you want to jump his bones?"

Lily gave a small shrug, not quite sure of her own feelings and even more uncertain of how to relate them to Penelope. "You know me. I don't just fall into bed with anybody and realistically I've only known the guy a few weeks."

"You're right. I do know you and you deserve to make yourself happy. I say go for it." Lily laughed.

"Go for what? I'm not sure what I'm even going for. And what happened to 'be careful Lily. You don't need to be jumping into any new relationships.'?" The far too accurate impression didn't seem to amuse Penelope and she looked sternly over at Lily, giving her the strong impression that she was back in school.

"I'm not saying lose your head or anything. All I'm saying is that he's seems like a nice guy and he makes you happy."

Happy. She could do happy. She could quite happily do happy in fact.

The serious stuff now out of the way and a teasing smirk broke out across Penelope's face. "So, hard core air guitar and leather pants eh? Sexy."

---

"Why are you so happy?" Wendy grunted by way of morning greeting. "It's 9 o'clock in the bloody morning on a bloody Sunday. What's there to be happy about?"

Most mornings Lily would have agreed wholly. Today however, the usually daunting prospects looked that little bit brighter. She beamed happily at her surly co-worker and set to work with unusual enthusiasm.

"Alright, who is he?" A knowingly smile was growing across Wendy's drawn face and a knowing smile glinted from her eyes. "Spill your guts missy, I need some vicarious thrills in my life. Thank God at least someone's getting some."

After informing Wendy that she had not in fact spent the previous night having wild raunchy sex with a mysterious bloke she couldn't resist yabbering on slightly excessively about James. Poor Wendy had spent the last year and a half hopelessly in love with a married man who kept giving her empty promises of leaving his wife.

Three hours of mundane work later and storming out in protest was looking more and more tempting. That was until a pair of hands wrapped themselves around Lily eyes making her drop the box she had been previously carrying with a resounding thud.

"Guess who."

Oh my God, it couldn't be! Her heart began to beat wildly like out of control jungle drums and a pathetic hope filled her. And suddenly she felt those strong, muscled arms move from her face to wrap around her petite waist, pulling her into his firm chest.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked a little breathlessly as he began to kiss her neck. She was so excited! Never, _never_ had a guy dropped in to work to see her.

"Well," She could feel his deep voice reverberating in his chest and she closed her eyes lazily. "Last night I was with this amazing girl until my oafish friends scared her away without as much as a glass slipper and now I just can't stop thinking about her."

Lily thought she might swoon at his words. It was the nicest, most romantic thing any guy had ever said to her and if nothing else, Lily was most certainly a sucker for flattery. Smooth pick up lines and ice-cool charisma only went so far with her. A few minutes of flattery and she was smitten. Which is why at that moment she would have eaten glass out of the palm of James' hand if he'd asked her. She was _that_ far gone.

"I can't find that box anywhere." She called out to Wendy who was setting up the window display. "I'll go and search out the back." Without waiting for a reply she took James' warm hand in her own and feeling ridiculously naughty and excitingly rebellious she lead James into the back of the storeroom.

The door was barely closed when his lips pressed deliciously against hers pushing her gently back against the wall. Pleasure swirled inside her like a snowdrift, exhilaration pumped through her veins and she was completely lost in the hot and heavy sensations.

Hands roamed audaciously as Lily slid hers under his shirt, running them over his taut stomach, working furiously at the buttons that she had to undo _now_. James groaned as he kissed her neck, giving shuddery little bites as he went. His own hands were quite happily straying under her skirt to capture her behind.

A stray limb knocked something over as they stumbled over strewn clothes and boxes uncaringly. Without her noticing Lily's top had somehow managed to join the mess on the floor and James' joined shortly afterwards. Hot skin against hot skin, his body flush against hers, breaths coming in short gasps. Commonsense screamed at Lily to stop, slowdown before things got too hot and heavy for her to handle. They shouldn't be doing this _here_! But she couldn't stop. It was too sexy, too addictive.

"So this is what they call working nowadays is it?" Came an amused voice from the door. Instantly Lily shoved James in the chest away from her and he lost his balance, staggering into the boxes piled in the corner. All eyes turned with dread as the whole lot came tumbling down, clothes showering the three of them.

Rummaging frantically for her top Lily shoved and arm through a sleeve, yanking it over her head. She tossed James his as a small square of parchment fluttered from the bunched shirt. Instinctively her eyes followed it curiously but her thoughts didn't linger there for long.

"Wendy, I'm really sorry. This won't happen again I swear. I'll just, er, clean this up and er…" No excuse could cover it. Embarrassment and panic hovered over her beet red face like a storm cloud. She was going to lose her job, she knew it. Wendy would tell her boss who would fire her for improper behaviour in the workplace. Scandal would follow her and she'd never be able to show her face in public again. She'd become the slag who was caught going at it in her workplace storeroom.

To her immense surprise Wendy just laughed. "Go home. This place is hardly romantic."

Wide-eyed and mortified Lily couldn't drag her eyes up to look at Wendy. She doubted she'd ever be able to again but at least she didn't seem to be getting fired. In fact it rather appeared that…

"Take the afternoon off and I'll cover for you. There's not much left to do anyway." And with that she left.

Her face still deeply flushed Lily turned awkwardly back to James who irritatingly didn't look at all fazed. Instead he was grinning at her wolfishly, almost proudly even.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

Hurriedly they packed up some of the boxes, leaving the room moderately tidy, the least Lily felt she could do after that little incident. With James' back turned to her, Lily took her split-second inconspicuous opportunity and reached for the parchment.

"Ready?" James looked at her and reached to take her hand. Hastily Lily shoved the parchment into her pocket and smiled, accepting his hand.

As they passed the front Wendy winked meaningfully at them mouthing 'have fun' as they left. What a little flirt! Lily mused. Who knew she had it in her?

Hand-in-hand, beatific smiles covering both their faces they strolled romance-movie style down the cobbled alley. Sunlight kissed their faces and a pure contentment settled inside Lily. Everything seemed utterly perfect from the fiery debauchery in the storeroom, the afternoon off and the handsome man walking beside her.

They sat in the shaded seats outside the Ice Cream Parlour. Lily gazed happily around, the normally irritating sounds of gabbling children and enviably happy couples only making her smile. Today, she was one of those nauseatingly happy, hand holding, kiss sneaking, besotted gazing couples. And she welcomed every damn jealous glance from every bitter single woman who passed.

Casting a quick look at James waiting in the order line, Lily reached into her pocket to pull out the parchment. Unfolding the crinkled letter her eyes gazed confusedly at the words written below.

_Potter –_

_Keep a low profile. The newspapers are on the rampage for scandal. I'm convinced someone's leaking to press and the Prophet's growing suspicious. Keep your mouth shut and your nose clean._

_George_

---

**Hopefully you weren't drowning in fluff overload in this chappie. What do you reckon, were things moving a bit fast? Anyway I hope everyone who celebrates it had a great Easter and got heaps of chocolate. I know I did ;-) **


	7. Incriminating Evidence

**First of all can I just apologise profusely for the inordinately long wait between updates. I've been incredibly busy and managed to type this up in the small amount of free time I managed to find over the weekend. I know how infuriating it is waiting for authors to update but hopefully you guys haven't abandoned this story due to lack of updates. Thanks so much to Sarah L Padfoot, brokenblackangel, messyblackhair66, Rachel, fudge-butter, Charlotte Donahue, Alaskan Chick, Heaven's Flying Fish, xxlilyandjamesxx, sorrybut, Rika and IWantToMarryJames for you amazing reviews. Especially to Heavens Flying Fish who gave me a few funny ideas which I included in the story. Sorry, this chapter isn't the best but hopefully it is sufficient until the next one which won't be anywhere near as long a wait as this one was. Now… on to exam revision. One step at a time. :D**

**---**

**Ch 7: Incriminating Evidence**

"I can't believe you, you little hussy!" Penelope cried with tears streaming down her cheeks as her peals of laughter began to subside.

Lily grinned sheepishly and looked down at her chocolate muffin which she was picking away at delicately.

"When I said go for it I didn't mean _go at it_ out the back during work! Talk about kinky." She continued with uncontained giggles.

Lily let out an agitated huff. "Come on. We wouldn't have screwed or anything. It was just a bit of heated snogging."

She sent a glare Penelope's way as she let out a disbelieving snort and rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "More like raunchy sex with your clothes on."

Deciding to ignore that comment Lily settled for taking an extra large bite of muffin of which she managed to inhale some of. Water filled her eyes as she made raucous dying noises. Penelope whacked her forcefully on the back in a painful effort to cease her coughing and spluttering.

"So, how's Sam?" Lily asked once her face had returned to its normal colour and turning the conversation away from herself. A loud sigh from the other side of the table drew Lily's attention as she observed Penelope's expression.

"He's alright." She said eventually, all traces of the earlier light-hearted atmosphere instantly vanished. "But you know what he's like. He works too much and he never gets home until late." Her dark eyes seemed to be full of something Lily couldn't put a name to but it filled her with sympathy at the sight.

"Pen, you know he loves you right? Because he does and you can't ever doubt that." Lily said strongly, giving Penelope's hand a small reassuring squeeze.

"I know."

"Seriously Penny. You two are made for each other. I swear, he's the last decent man on earth so you'd better hang on to him."

"Why don't you marry him then?" Penelope muttered softly into her steaming coffee.

Lily just about gave herself whiplash with the speed her head jerked up to stare wide eyed at her best friend.

"What…? Are you…? When…? You didn't… How could…?" Speech didn't seem to be coming easily and an overwhelming excitement was brewing, ready to burst at any minute until Penelope's swift head-shake stopped any confusion.

"No. We're not engaged but he keeps bringing up marriage and kids and stuff. It's all 'us' and 'we' now and I don't quite know what to make of it all." She looked so helplessly confused that Lily got up from her seat to wrap her arms comforting around her, squeezing her gently.

Tears swum in her dark chocolate eyes and when she spoke her voice quivered faintly. "I don't know Lil. I love him I really really do but I just, I don't know what to do anymore. I thought getting married was supposed to be the most exciting thing in the world, what every girl dreams of, hopes for with each new relationship. But I don't know if I'm ready for that. It's such a huge commitment you know?"

Lily didn't know what to say. No words of wisdom or advice that best friends were supposed to give came and she sat there gaping unattractively. Penelope had always been the little girl caught up in a romance novel. The girl that had Barbie weddings until she was twelve, sketched wedding gowns til she was 16 and sized up every boyfriend thereafter as a potential husband. Lily on the other hand had been the wild party girl with an expensive addiction to shoes and who couldn't hold on to a relationship for love nor money, though not for lack of trying. So why was she the one trying to give the advice?

"I know, how about we all go out together? Sam can take the night off and it gives James a chance to meet you guys properly." Excitement was shining in Lily's bright eyes. Penelope met her gaze with a dubious expression.

"Like a double date?" She asked sceptically. "Lils, double dates are so high school."

Lily frowned at the lack of appreciation coming from her friend and backtracked a bit. "Not like a double date, more like… like I don't know, a casual dinner with friends? You know, the sort of thing normal people do?"

The anticipatory expression glowing from Lily's face made Penelope relent. Who knew, maybe it would be a blast. And God knew that Sam needed a break.

"Sure." Penelope accepted finally. "How about Friday?"

---

"Barklon, nice to meet you." Sam greeted jovially as the four of them met, as organised, outside the restaurant Lily and Penelope had spent a good half hour arguing over.

A blank expression obscured James' face for a second as he shot a half glance behind him as if to check who he was talking too. Then, blushing slightly and feeling like a prize idiot he accepted the proffered hand with a firm, manly shake.

"I hope we're not going to stand around here all night." Penelope butted in as her shoulders shook with cold. While pretty, dresses didn't make great attire for the chilly evening wind.

"I told you this was a good idea." Lily sidled up to Penelope with a triumphant grin as the waiter led them to their table. Sam and James were already engaged in a lively conversation about, well, she wasn't quite sure but it sounded interesting enough.

Lily glowed the entire evening, her bright smile illuminating her face beatifically. Nothing could have been more perfect from the lovely food (Hah, Lily thought triumphantly) to the engaging conversation that swept easily over the four of them. She really couldn't have been more pleased that James was getting on so brilliantly with her friends. Not that she was one for fate and destiny and so forth but she couldn't help seeing it as a good omen. After all, her last few boyfriends had been complete disaster zones what with the freaky foot fetish, the weird waxing obsession that made her feel like a gorilla with a mono brow, not to mention the guy who was convinced he had been a rooster in a past life and insisted on squawking 'seductively' during, well I don't think it needs to be spelled out.

A swelling happiness overtook Penelope's worries as she pondered how long it had been since she'd seen her best friend so truly happy. Honestly, she thought it had been when Jimmy Choo had had that 50 off sale. That day she'd been positively giddy but that didn't seem to be one ounce of her current euphoria.

Nobody seemed in a hurry to leave as Lily contemplated whether she could still fit in a dessert without her stomach pooching out excessively and still be able to move afterwards. A gigantic smile overtook her face as James leant over and whispered something in her ear causing little giggles to tumble out in amusement. His arm was draped comfortably around her chair, the warmth sending tiny anticipatory shivers down her spine every so often.

With such un-Lily-like ease, Penelope watched as she lent over and took a spoonful of James' sundae. She threw her head back with uncontained laughter as he raised an eyebrow amusedly in return, a smile playing at his lips as she stuck her tongue out at him, completely unaware that she had whipped cream on her nose and chocolate sauce smeared across her cheek.

"I think we'd better call it a night." Penelope said eventually as the restaurant slowly emptied and they were the only table that remained. Not even Penelope could complain about the evening. Initially the idea had seemed ludicrous and silly but it seemed it had been a far better idea than she'd given it credit for. Sam had been more relaxed than she'd seen him in weeks and everything she'd been fretting about the other day seemed so unimportant now. And she could at least say she approved whole-heartedly of Lily's most recent suitor.

"I'll see you soon." Lily promised as she hugged Penelope goodbye outside the restaurant, the two men shaking hands amicably and chuckling loudly.

"Seya!" Waving behind them, Penelope and Sam strolled off briskly. She watched them until they were out of sight, Penelope shivering in the brisk evening air as Sam draped his jacket across her shoulders despite her loud objections that it didn't suit her outfit.

A pair of warm arms wrapped themselves around Lily's torso, her head fitting perfectly under a familiar chin as she rested against James' chest. The scent of cologne filled her nostrils as she discreetly inhaled the delicious aroma of him.

"Can I walk you home?"

Eyes half closed contentedly, Lily nodded, her face brushing against the soft wool of his jumper. Pulling back, warm fingers wove through hers, enveloping them as they strode the short stretch back to Lily's apartment.

"Cold?" James asked sounding amused. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see her failing attempts to control her shivers. As a fresh gust of bitter wind brushed her skin, tiny goose bumps sprouted over her arms.

"Not at all." She answered back, her teeth chattering furiously.

Before the freezing air hit her now empty hand and she could register that James' had left her own, something soft was pushed into her arms.

"Uh uh." Lily muttered stubbornly, shoving the jumper back at James. "Then you'll get cold."

James chuckled and without waiting for further protests he took the jumper and slipped it over her head. A glare met his amused gaze as her face emerged from the overlarge woollen canopy. He noted with satisfaction as they continued down the street, that despite her consistent flow of objections, she didn't take it off and her shivering ceased.

"Thanks." She mumbled grudgingly, trying to hide her immense gratitude. Although, judging from the smirk playing across James' face, he hadn't missed it.

Comfortable silence descended upon them. Warmth, other than that of James' sweater, settled itself over Lily. It felt strangely… coupley yet far too comfortable wearing James' clothes. It fell past the hem of her dress, stopping just above her knees, the sleeves hanging a good five centimetres past her fingertips. Trying to seem as if she was burying into it for warmth, Lily inhaled the musky smell of cologne and something uniquely James.

Heart-pounding and throat slightly sticky, Lily led James up the stairs to her apartment in silence. Butterflies were sent into a tizzy somewhere in the depths of her stomach and strange thoughts danced through her mind. Did this mean… well, what she thought it meant? Was 'can I walk you home?' a more polite way of saying 'let's make wild passionate love right now.'?

The door was barely closed when gentle lips grazed hers and Lily's mind was suddenly blissfully blank. In that instant nothing else except James' strong body pressed so deliciously against hers seemed to matter. His strong frame guided her towards the couch, their contact breaking for just a fraction of a moment as they tumbled onto the pile of cushions, drawing a small giggle from Lily.

Lily's eyes fluttered closed, hot kisses and the smell of cologne sending her mind foggy with pleasure. Soft hands roamed wildly, sliding up and down the length of her leg and under the floaty material of her dress. A breathy sigh escaped her, the rustle of paper buried deep under the layer of cushions just crossing into the conscious part of her mind.

Paper. The thought struck recognition and, as if tiny arrows were linking the separated parts of her brain, something clicked. The note. The note that had barely left her mind in recent days as her overworked mind fruitlessly tried to decipher its meaning. The mysterious Potter, whoever or whatever that was. For all she knew it could be a letter from the Russian mafia. Who knew, maybe her instincts had been right at the beginning and he really was a serial killer? Or a loony with an imaginary friend?

Or maybe, said another tiny part of her that wasn't completely paranoid, there really was an explanation. Who was she to say that it wasn't just a friend's? Or a secret lover's? No, no, enough unfounded suspicions. It was most likely something completely harmless that she had simply taken the wrong way. Although, how else could you interpret 'keep a low profile, your mouth closed and your nose clean'? That most definitely didn't sound completely innocent.

"Are you okay Lily?" Pulling back, James watched her curiously. Lily felt her cheeks grow warm.

_Is Potter your secret boyfriend or are you surreptitiously with the Mafia?_ There really was no way of putting it. And the last thing Lily wanted to do was falsely accuse him of something and blow another perfectly good relationship. No, she was better off just leaving it well alone. To just banish it from her mind until, no _if_, anything else turned up. Yes, that was what she'd do.

"Fine." Lily said back with a slightly forced smile and a distracted air. He kissed her gently and quickly, tucking her loose tendrils of hair neatly behind her ears with a sweep of his hand.

"You sure? You seem a little distracted that's all."

A smile softened Lily's faintly tensed expression. How had she managed to find such a wonderful, thoughtful and perceptive guy? (Minus the possible Mafia allegiance). Seriously, she was beginning to think he was a robot or had some sort of thus far hidden mutation, like the stump of a third arm or something. Men just simply didn't come that way. And how, in all honesty could she believe he was hiding something from her? Something incriminating. Last time she'd accused him of being gay and just look at how accurately her instincts had turned out to be that time.

"Oh, I've just got a bit on my mind at the moment," She paused as a genuine yawn took over.

"And you look exhausted." James finished for her.

Curling and arm around her shoulders, her head resting gently on his chest, James let his body sink back into the couch. He watched in amusement as Lily's head rose and fell slightly with each breath he took, a single piece of hair fluttering by her face as she exhaled. Minutes ticked by, James' arm growing increasingly tingly from lack of movement.

"Lily?" She didn't answer nor stir in the slightest.

"Listen, I think I might –" The ghost of a smile flitted over James' face, "go." Slowly he pulled his arm from beneath her head, waiting for her to grumble at him for moving. Instead, her eyes still tightly shut, her head lolled onto the arm of the couch, fast asleep.

As cautiously as he could manage, James detangled himself from Lily's sleeping form, slipping a pillow beneath her head and staring hopelessly around for a blanket of some sort. When nothing appeared he drew out his wand and conjured a fluffy quilt from thin arm, wrapping it over her and tucking in the edges to keep her warm.

Pausing at the door, James turned back with a last look. The soft light of a lamp cast an angelic glow across her face. A light smile curved her lips as if she was dreaming of something pleasant.

An almost regretful expression obscured James' face as he gazed at her. Why, why now when his life was an increasingly tangled web of lies did he have to meet the most perfect girl that he thought he'd never find? Why, when everything had been so simple did he have to fall harder than he'd ever fallen before for a girl who didn't even know who he really was? When had things become so complicated?

He was fighting a losing battle with no positive outcome to imagine. This was the depressing time when the only light at the end of the tunnel was just a speeding train. On one hand he could tell her the truth and risk never seeing her again. Or he could wait it out, hoping to God she would fall for him as hard as he was for her, with the smallest chance she'd forgive him and a far more likely outcome that she'd hate him and he'd never see her again. Either way, he was pretty much stuffed.

_Love is a dangerous game._

---

The delicious musky aroma of cologne was the first thing Lily woke up to hours later. Prising her eyes open and squinting against the light, she sat up. The night before came flooding back but no recollection of when James had left, nor why she was still on her couch covered in a blanket she'd never seen before, arose.

So what else is a girl to do but make a strong pot of coffee and head to the shops. An hour later Lily was wandering out of a small Diagon Alley boutique clutching a box of the most gorgeous boots she'd ever seen as Penelope argued with a shop assistant.

"No, I didn't break it!" She cried in frustration to the snooty sales assistant. "I was wearing it when somehow the back fell off and it fell into my soup. I hardly noticed until I nearly cracked my tooth on it."

The assistant shook her head superciliously and Lily could tell she was far more interesting in watching that way her hair swished around her shoulders with each movement than anything Penelope had to say.

"Sorry. There are no returns on earrings."

Penelope let out an aggravated wail. "Look, you're lucky I'm not trying to sue you for dental damage. All I want is for out to give me my money back or replace it."

Progressively more bickering, many stamped feet and a near quill stabbing later and Penelope was stomping out of the shop leaving a cowering shop assistant and a chortling Lily trotting behind her.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side." She said amusedly as they wove through the busy crowd which conveniently parted for them, probably due to the murderous expression on Penelope's face.

"What a twat." Penelope muttered back mutinously. "She was carrying on like I was about to stab her with a quill."

"Ah, weren't you?" Lily asked with a snort of laughter. Penelope cast her a highly unamused look.

"I was using it for emphasis. But whatever, I got my earring replaced anyway."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You know Pen. I'd forgotten about that temper of yours. It really isn't a very attractive trait."

Shrugging, Penelope's eyes darted from shop to shop, barely listening to what Lily was saying. "Who cares? I don't remember you complaining the time I got your diary back for you from that troll-faced, dung for brains gorilla with the mono-brow back in third year."

Lily hid a grimace. "Do I need to remind you that you only got it back because you threatened to castrate him with your bare hands and then bit his hand when he waved it tauntingly at you?"

They both looked away with a wince at that one. Some memories were best left unmentioned. Ever.

"So, how's Mr Snog-in-the-Storeroom anyway?"

A short pause followed and Lily stared resolutely at the path ahead. "The guy's too perfect to be true." It was supposed to come off as an offhand comment but something on her face indicated otherwise.

"What do you mean?" Penelope asked carefully.

Lily let out a soft sigh. "I dunno Pen. Everything about him so far is just too perfect. He's a man. They were stuffed up on creation. It's impossible for him to be that flawless. It's stupid I know but…" She broke off with a confused look showing on her pretty face. After everything shed promised herself, there was something about a second opinion that helped solve a problem.

A small snort of laughter escaped from Penelope. Immediately she clapped a hand over her mouth but the spark of humour was still shining from her eyes. "Well, let me know if I'm wrong but I think his initial 'potential gayness' and the disasters that followed indicate that he's only mortal."

Even Lily let out the beginnings of a small smile. "Yeah, but that was just my paranoid overactive mind malfunctioning again. This… well maybe I _am_ just being paranoid…"

"What happened?"

Feeling stupid and inwardly scolding herself for making something so insignificant into a drama she pulled out the scrunched little piece of parchment she'd found the day in the storeroom. Meekly she handed it to Penelope.

Lily watched anxiously as Penelope's eyes whizzed over the words. Her eyes clouded for the smallest fraction of a second that Lily was sure she had imagined it.

"So?" She was nervous. It sounded stupid but she really was. It could just be her paranoia back or… or it could be something more. A something more she didn't even want to consider.

The small shake of her dark head sent a small tremor of relief through Lily. "Are you sure it was even his? I mean, Potter has nothing to do with him so unless it's a code name or something which sounds highly unlikely, it might not have anything to do with him."

Lily gave a relieved smile. "You're right. It fluttered down from his shirt but with all the mayhem," here she ignored Penelope's smirk, "it could have been on that floor for ages."

She let out a soft sigh and leant her head against the wall behind her. Confrontation wasn't exactly Lily's forte and the past weeks had been so perfect so far she didn't think she could stand another messy break up or something else equally hideous.

"So until your paranoid mind finds something else possibly incriminating…?" Penelope asked mildly.

A charming smile spread across Lily's face, her brow relaxing and the happy spark was back in her eyes. "He's utterly perfect."

---

**Okay, a few more problems to weave into the mix. James is battle over whether he can find the courage to tell Lily the truth while she puts aside her paranoid mind for the first time ever, but maybe not for the right time. The mystery letter will resolve soon but there are a few more surprises to throw in before it all rights itself. **

**One last thing before I return to my rather unappealing essay which I'm trying to put off as long as possible; someone mentioned something about betas and I was sort of wondering (a) what exactly are they and (b) and do I need one?**

**Please keep reading and review, even if it's just a couple of words. I could most definitely do with something to take my mind off my looming exams. ;-) xx**


	8. A Not So Natural Ability

**Well, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth and an on an updating rampage of all my fics since I finally have more than three minutes of free time. A million thanks to messyblackhair66, HalfBloodHannah, cosmopolitan, Princess Shinko, bithya, thestoicwarrior, HenSleigh, codswallop, ErinM, OstrasizedPotato, Etar, Jasper Hale, misslovable, IWantToMarryJames and Chellik for reviewing. And so on to the finally updated next chapter...**

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**Ch 8: A Not So Natural Ability **

A jet of hot water filled the waiting tub, billows of steam rising through the confined space and causing the beginnings of fog on the mirror. Traces of vanilla scented the air and fantastic bubbles began to pervade the bath like billowing clouds.

With a broad sweeping motion, Lily collected her long cascades of dark red hair and secured it in a knot at the back of her head. Slipping off her clothes, she dipped one pointed toe into the water. Perfect. Lithe fingers twisted the taps as the circulation of water ceased its flow.

Sighing deeply, a sense of true calm and relaxation came over Lily as her weary body sunk gratefully into the deliciously warm bath. She closed her eyes, allowing her head to lean back against the wall.

The weekend was like a God send after Lily's week from hell. If her paranoid mind could have thought up every possible disaster to befall her, it was worse. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite as bad as she made it out but despite the awfulness of her week, these precious moments to herself were what pulled her through.

Twice she'd had to cancel her plans with James because of last minute catastrophes at work, a frantic call from her mother whom she hadn't seen in nearly two years and various other inconvenient obstacles.

She missed him and to her that was a foreign feeling. It made their relationship, or whatever it was they were in, that much more real to her. It surprised her at first, that strange aching feeling somewhere deep in her stomach which she'd initially put down to hunger, or, following that, indigestion. But no, she really missed James. The way he made her laugh, his mind-blowing kisses, his soft touch, that musky smell of his that wasn't quite sweet yet wasn't sour either.

They hadn't made plans for the weekend as yet but Lily was more than keeping an eye out for his owl. Not that she couldn't take the initiative herself, but, it just wasn't the same thrill of excitement as coming from him.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Lily's head snapped up at the door as her lazy mind shot back into action. The rapping came again and with a sinking feeling she realised it had to be someone at the door. She was half tempted to ignore it and pretend she wasn't home when Penelope's voice rang through the thin walls.

"Coming!" She called loudly back.

Feeling suitably disgruntled, Lily stepped out of her warm, soapy bath and wrapped herself in a towel. Hurriedly, she tossed on the oversized jumper she'd been previously wearing, which was covering enough to constitute as a dress, and hurried to answer the door.

"Finally Lils!" Grumbled Penelope as Lily rattled around with the jarred lock. "I was about to conjure myself a sleeping bag."

Scowling, Lily finally managed to swing the door open. "Well, I'm sorry." She muttered sarcastically in response. "But you just rudely interrupted my hot, saucy date with –"

"Your bathtub?" Snorted Penelope as she eyed Lily's frothy bubble covered legs with amusement. "Sorry Lils, but that doesn't count as a relationship."

Lily crossed her arms. "Well it's healthier than my last romantic relationship with a block of chocolate and a wine bottle. The conversation isn't quite so dry."

As she shook her head with an almost unnoticed eyeroll, Penelope moved towards the door. It was only then that Lily realised they weren't alone. Feeling her posture stiffen as colour flooded her cheeks, Lily felt that she'd much rather not have gotten out of her bath in the first place.

"Hey Lil. Sorry to but in like this but Penny was in a hurry so…" Sam gave her an apologetic grimace as he followed Penelope inside.

Her face still flaming, Lily stood stock still staring at the last person.

"What are you doing here?" She asked incredulously, trying in vain to pull the hem of the jumper down past her knees, feeling suddenly self conscious.

"Is that all the welcome I get?"

Lily's retort died on her lips as someone else found a much better use for them. Forgetting that she was now standing on the street dressed only in an oversized jumper, freezing her indecently clad buttocks off and inwardly dying of embarrassment, Lily allowed herself to be swallowed by James' arms and kissed soundly.

He drew back, a deadpan look on his face. "I'm sorry. I hope he doesn't mind."

Confusion furrowing Lily's brow. He?

"Your boyfriend. I hope this isn't considered cheating." Her mind was racing to keep up but he could have been speaking in Flemish for all she understood. "I'd hate for you to break up over me. You may start to smell a bit after a few days."

A small smile grew on her face as she finally caught on. Playfully, she shoved him lightly in the chest, scolding him teasingly for his lame joke.

His lips quickly silenced her from any further comment.

"By the way," James whispered in her ear as he drew back, his strong arm wrapping around her shoulders to steer her towards the open door. "I was considering posting out a missing object report for my favourite jumper, but I've now come to the conclusion that it looks far better on you than it ever did on me."

Lily felt she could have made quite a satisfactory heater from the warmth radiating from her cheeks, now near incandescent.

"I was about to return it actually." She said stoutly, taking a stab at giving off as much dignity as she was heat from her flushed cheeks. "It was folded and waiting for when I saw you next but Penelope's call surprised me and it was the first thing I threw on." She was lying through her teeth now which only served to make the grin on James' face grow even larger if possible.

"No need to be so defensive." He teased with the playful grin of his still lurking in sight. "But if you feel so strongly about it, then you are by all means welcome to return it to me right now."

Feeling more mortified than she felt she ever had done, Lily glared at him as she bit hard on her cheek to force back her smile.

"Funny." She muttered sarcastically. "Unless you'd rather me catch a cold from standing out in nude, you can wait for the jumper."

James grinned wolfishly. "I'm prepared to make sacrifices. Is that an offer?"

The colour rose back into her cheeks as quickly as it had departed. "Oh my God, we are so not talking about this."

Feeling the need to stop the current conversation before either (a) her head caught fire from the amount she was blushing or (b) she flung herself on James right then and there.

"Oh believe me, we most definitely are." James whispered back in her ear as she paused to close the door behind them. The sensation sent tingles of desire down her spine making her shiver even though the draught was now gone.

---

"What are you doing?" Lily hissed, as she squinted at the dark outline that she presumed to be Penelope in the gloom.

A rustling next to her alerted her senses and a sudden spark of light made her eyes water.

"Well, I was trying to squeeze myself into your clothes so I have something to wear for dinner with Sam's parents but now it seems I'm being held captive in your closet." Said Penelope in a rather louder voice than Lily fully appreciated and she turned a glare at her friend who, completely oblivious, continued to rifle through Lily's drawers using the light from her wand tip.

"Wait, you're having dinner with Sam's parents?" Lily asked distractedly.

Holding up a scarlet mini-dress up to her frame, Penelope gave a slight twirl in the mirror. Her brow was furrowed, as if scrutinising the choice. "Mm-hmm. Do you think flats would work with this?"

Ignoring the question as her expression resumed its disgruntled appearance. "Pen, what on earth is James doing here?" The panic rose in her voice and cracked with anxiety on her last word.

Surprised at Lily's reaction, Penelope looked away from her shoe search and peered cautiously at her friend. "You're not annoyed are you? I mean, I didn't really think. He was just over to see Sam about magical recording devices or something and he just sort of came along."

The anxious look upon Lily's face didn't lessen. "No of course I'm not mad." Muttered Lily uneasily. "Oh Penelope! You couldn't have warned me or anything. Firstly I start blabbering about my current romantic relationship with my bathtub and now to add insult to injury he's caught me wearing his jumper. He must think I'm the clingiest, most verbally incontinent spaz on the planet." Cried Lily, a little melodramatically in Penelope's opinion.

"Don't be such a prima donna." Sighed Penelope. "I met Sam as I was sitting in a barrel of beetle eyes back when I worked at the apothecary. That's romantic enough to warrant a scene in a Hollywood movie. I wouldn't be complaining if I were you."

A grimace of distaste at the memory crossed Penelope's face and Lily couldn't help a small bubble of laughter escape her. "Now, will you help me pick an outfit or will I have to show up in this sexy lycra body suit of yours?"

Snatching the regrettable item out of Penelope's grasp as she snorted with mirth, blushing slightly Lily shoved it into the nearest drawer.

"Just a suggestion, I wouldn't advise the red skirt."

Penelope looked at her in confusion, before turning her sights to the dress she was clutching in her hand. Comprehension dawned and a small smile lit her face.

"It looks better as a dress." She shrugged. "Do you have any belts?"

Five minutes later and Penelope was twirling in front of the mirror in the skirt-dress, a thick black and silver belt cinching in her waist as she attempted to gain her balance in Lily's 3 inch high silver sandals.

"What do you think?" Penelope eyed her reflection critically. Lily wondered how honest she should really be.

"You look absolutely stunning." She said in all sincerity. "As long as you don't mind looking a bit like a tart."

Scrunching her eyes at her reflection, Penelope stared at her reflection as if weighing up Lily's comments. "Hmm. Well, a classy tart at the very least."

Lily snorted before looked disbelievingly at her friend. "Are you sure that's appropriate for dinner with his parents?"

"Compared with Mrs Calhoun who looks like a drag queen, I think it's perfectly appropriate." Replied Penelope casually. Lily let out a snigger.

"Come on. She can't be that bad." Lily reasoned though her tone was doubtful.

While Penelope had only met Sam's parents a handful of times (to her immense relief and though he didn't say it outright, Sam's too) Lily had heard the dreadful recounts of each meeting more times than she could count.

Penelope graced her friend with a dry look. "Oh, yes she is. The last time she saw me she gave me the most scathing look for actually ordering a steak and asked if I'd put on weight recently."

"She did not!"

"Thankfully, Sam tried to stick up for me by saying that it was nice to be with a woman who didn't feel the need to starve herself for the sake of beauty. She looked me straight in the eye and said that beauty was such an indefinite term and that some cultures consider heavy women with moustaches the epitome of beauty. She's a hag."

"You shouldn't say that about your future mother-in-law." Lily scolded, the effect slightly lessened by her giggles.

Penelope shrugged nonchalantly. "Whatever. Now, can you help me get out of this dress before I keel over from oxygen deprivation?"

---

She was panicking. Despite her best calming down methods - breathe deeply. Listen to the soothing sounds of the ocean. Inhale the calming sent of lavender. If these fail, when in doubt, have a cosmopolitan - the feeling that everything was going wrong was only intensifying with every passing second. And okay, maybe the last one was an invention of her own but it certainly worked the best in stressful situations.

At the time, cooking dinner for James had seemed like a great idea. Sure she'd never exactly been a whiz in the kitchen but more out of laziness than anything. After flipping through 'Ten Quick and Easy Meals' she decided that cooking wasn't really that hard. Honestly. She'd been a natural at potions, why should cooking be any different?

Momentarily leaving the pan to fry, Lily frantically scrambled through her cupboard for candles. Should she light the candles? In theory it seemed like a good idea but on second thoughts, she didn't want to scare him or anything. That was one of the many frustrating things in relationships. When men attempted bold gestures it was considered romantic. When women did it, it was considered desperate. Or psychotic. Did candles count as bold? Or was bold picking your wedding dress after the first date?

A loud, unpleasant sparking noise and the wafting smell of smoke caused all thought of candles and potentially more fires from Lily's mind. Tearing back to the kitchen, she stared desolately down at her poor, charcoal chicken.

At least there was still the curry. If should could say so herself, it was spectacular. A masterpiece. The Picasso of all shrimp curries. Glancing quickly at the picture illustrating the book page, Lily felt a grin slide across her face. Spitting image. Honestly, from a distance you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. And she was certain that James would never be able to tell that she'd used a rose leaf from the garden as a garnish since she didn't have parsley. They were both green in any case and it looked much prettier in her opinion.

Placing a cover over the food to keep it warm, she set about placing a few candles around the perimeter of the room, lighting them with a swift wave of her wand. The lighted flickered pleasantly across the room and Lily smiled shyly.

Perfect.

Not a moment too soon did the familiar door bell chime through the house and Lily jumped in surprise, suddenly not feeling quite so confident.

Reaching out a hand she opened the door, slightly taken aback by how close behind the door James was indeed standing. Had she somehow forgotten how charming his smile was or was this the first time her knees had gone weak at the sight of him?

"Hmm, I see my poor old jumper's been rejected then has it?"

He was grinning from ear to ear, a child-like playfulness in his eyes that made her positively giddy with desire. Not even her embarrassment seemed to penetrate her fuzzy mind but in a moment of coyness she leant forwards to kiss his cheek.

Somehow it seemed only to characteristic for her to instead find herself kissing his lips instead. As he stepped inside, never once breaking their contact she heard the soft click of the door closing and leaned further into him until he was pressed against the door.

A low moan escaped James and Lily slowly pulled away.

"What's wrong?"

She looked worried at the uncomfortable look on James' face.

"You really want to know?"

_No_, her mind was screaming at her. _You don't want to know!_ But instead she meekly nodded, her eyes cast downwards as if in anticipation of a blow. She didn't even notice he'd moved closer to her until his breath lightly tickled her ear in a seductive fashion.

"If you keep that up, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my hands to myself." She could see his sly grin in her peripheral vision and subconsciously held her breath. "And it would be a shame if we never even made it to the dining room."

Without being able to help herself, Lily shivered as her skin tingled with lust at his touch. She was so close to saying 'screw the dinner' but somehow that didn't seem entirely appropriate.

James let out a low whistle as she gently took his hand and led him into her neatly set up table, a candle burning steadily in the centre of the table. Suddenly she felt shy and exposed but they quickly left her as James left a sweet kiss on the back of her neck.

"Hey, do you want dinner or not?" Lily said mock-scoldingly as she wiggled out of his grasp.

Leaving James to sit down Lily hurried into the kitchen for dinner. Snatching up the plate she'd left earlier she placed it proudly in the centre of the table.

"Da da da da dada!" With an exaggerated flourish she lifted the cover to display her masterpiece.

She waited for a reaction. Any reaction.

Silence.

"Er, Lily?" His voice seemed unsure and Lily couldn't quite bring herself to look at either James or the food. Hesitantly she lowered her gaze, feeling a rush of colour flood her face.

Grabbing the plate and tearing back to the kitchen she wondered how much more she could mortify this man before he was running as fast as possible in the opposite direction as her.

This time she could barely muster her earlier enthusiasm, quickly checking that this time she did have the right dish instead of the mouldy, green piece of cheesecake she'd dug out of her fridge in disgust that morning and had been forced to cover due to the awful smell.

"Well, that certainly looks far more appetising." James said with a low chuckle as Lily set about serving her pride and joy shrimp curry.

Lily was a modest girl but not even she could help glowing with pride at the exquisite beauty of her shrimp curry. Honesty, if she'd been proud of her cooking abilities the time she'd whipped up that mean chocolate mousse for Penelope's birthday, it hardly compared to this. She could only hope now that it tasted at least half as good as it looked.

Brightening suddenly, Lily remembered something. "Hey, since you're such a fan and all I figured you must have heard that the England National Team has a position available since one of the chasers retired." Lily looked excitedly up at him, waiting for his reaction.

"Really?" replied James in mild interest although a slight discomfort was occurring somewhere inside him.

"You mean you didn't know?" Lily was surprised. She didn't profess to know James inside out or anything but from all the time she'd spent with him he was absolutely fanatical about quidditch and it seemed slightly off that he wouldn't know the biggest quidditch news of the moment. After all, it wasn't everyday that famous quidditch players retired.

"This looks delicious Lily." James smiled across at her as she lifted her glass of wine to her lips. If she didn't know better she'd say he was intentionally changing the subject but that was ridiculous. Why would he be changing the subject from quidditch, especially one of his favourite teams?

However, the compliment put any thoughts of quidditch aside and Lily glowed with pleasure. She watched in anticipation as he raised his fork to his lips to take a large mouthful. Maybe it sounded stupid to get so excited over it, but Lily had never cooked for someone before. Admittedly that had more often occurred because they wouldn't _let_ her cook despite her good intentions but still. It was a generally moving moment in her life.

"Mmm." Encouraged, Lily waited for his reaction. "This is really tasty. Perhaps a little spicy –" He broke off suddenly as tears began to pour from his eyes and he made a gagging motion.

Horror-struck Lily could do little else but stare as he wheezed, coughed, spluttered and inhaled his entire glass of wine.

_Oh my God! _Thought Lily in a panic. _I've poisoned my date!_

"W-water!" James managed to gasp and without question Lily ran to the kitchen to grab the pitcher of cold water from the fridge.

Quickly James downed almost the entire container before his face returned close enough to his normal colour and his breathing regulated somewhat.

"I'm so sorry!" Lily cried desperately after a moment of silence. Her face was stark white in contrast to James' slightly red one and her eyes wide and horrified. "I thought I'd poisoned you when you just," she waved her hand wildly towards him, "I think I must have put in too much chilli powder."

James raised an eyebrow in amusement. "You think?" He'd only been trying to lighten the mood by teasing but her reaction of deepest distress was not quite what he'd hoped for.

"Hey, hey." He said quietly, taking her hand gently as Lily looked on the verge of tears. "I'm joking. You did a wonderful job... well you tried anyway."

Not even Lily could suppress a smile at that. So much for her wonderful curry. Perhaps cooking wasn't quite as similar to potions as she'd thought. "I think I'll order in next time." She said with a small laugh. "So what do we do now?"

With the food declared inedible and little else in the house suitable for a proper meal for two, Lily wasn't even sure James would allow her to serve him food ever again.

"If you're still hungry I suppose I could cook up some mac and cheese which is about all I can..."

The fearful expression on James' face spoke louder than words and Lily trailed off with a laugh.

"How about I take you out to dinner?" James offered apologetically but with a grin all the same. "I don't think I can take anymore poisoning for one night."

With a laugh, James dodged as Lily ran towards him with her hand raised as if to swat him playfully. Lily chased after him until he hit the sofa. Lunging towards him, her giggles uncontrollable, he caught her around the waist and in a tangle of limbs they both fell onto the soft couch.

"Stop! Stop!" Lily cried through her laughter as James, grinning also, tickled her mercilessly as she thrashed in protest.

"I...can't...breathe...!" she gasped, laughing hysterically, as he tickled her sides relentlessly. Tears were running down her faced as she squirmed to avoid his torturous hands. "Stop it!"

"I'm sorry, Lily, what did you say? 'Don't stop'? Okay." James taunted, his face alight with humour as the woman beneath him let out a shriek of laughter.

He tickled her some more, their squeals of laughter so similar to those of a pair of teenagers. She struggled beneath him and he took her small wrists in one of his huge hands and held her wrists above her head while his other hand tickled her sides and her tummy.

"I promise I'll never cook again." Lily managed between gasps for air in a desperate attempt to cease James' tickling. "Please stop."

"Is that a promise?" He looked down at her, pausing his tickle torture to watch her vigorous nod. She was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling. Her eyes were wide and sparkling with mirth, her lips turned up in a smile. It was only then James registered how close their faces were and before he could stop himself he was crushing his lips against hers in a searing kiss.

If she had any hard feelings about being tickled mercilessly and her dinner a complete disaster, Lily certainly didn't show it as she kissed him back fiercely. Only when oxygen was indeed a necessity did they break apart and James leaned his forehead against hers.

"I'm sorry for such a disastrous dinner." Lily said softly, laying a soft kiss on his lips.

"Apart from the food I wouldn't call it disastrous at all." Grinning slyly down at her, James moved to leave a trail of kisses down her neck.

When it seemed James had little intention of getting up anytime, Lily realised she didn't really want him to anyway. A small sigh escaped her parted lips as she let her head fall back as James continued to leave hot kisses against the skin of her neck.

"What about dinner?"

James didn't even pull away to answer. "You know, I'm not really hungry."

A smile formed on Lily's face. She certainly had no objections.

"You know, I don't think I am either."

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**Please review, just because it's Christmas and to let me know that you haven't completely abandoned this fic because of my slack updates. Since I do have about 5 more weeks of holidays your reviews will definitely induce me to write faster... :P I think that's enough grovelling for one chapter.**

**Merry Christmas to everyone! xx**


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